Loud And Soft Noises (Mostly Loud)

2013 is upon us! Jesus, I haven’t updated this thing in a while….so here goes:

- I have spent the majority of January with the fine gentlemen of Naam (pictured above), recording and producing their next full-length record. I love these guys! We spent the first week of January tracking basics, live to GFoil’s trusty MCI 2” machine. We’re about 75 percent done with the record (okay, maybe 70 percent!)  The songs are great - and I really hate the overuse of the word “epic”, but there’s a couple of sprawling, EPIC tracks on this record!  Everyone is playing their asses off, the coffee budget is out of this world, Papadocilios takeout is ordered daily, and we’ve had a certain poodle co-producing and lending moral support.  Really excited to keep working on this album, which should be out late spring. Here’s a little preview for the rekkid.

- Just before Naam moved in for the majority of January, Dead Stars came for a long weekend of basic tracking for their next EP. For those of you unfamiliar, the band is comprised of three wonderful dudes whose names all start with the letter “J”, playing the living shit out of amazingly well-crafted songs. One of my favorites to catch live. I think they describe themselves as “Fuzz Pop”, but I’m more apt to describe it as “Stuff I Like Listening To Repeatedly At Dangerously High Volumes.” Looking forward to picking up where we left off in February!

- Back in November and December of 2012, Heliotropes were in to track a bunch of tunes for their upcoming full-length. Well, we’re finishing up mixing this week and it’s coming out great so far…stay tuned…

- The Glorious Veins finished up their new record, “Savage Beat” here at GFoil in November. This is the third record that I’ve worked on with these guys and (bias aside) it’s a pretty big step forward for them. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a long time, and they keep musically evolving in the best way that four people playing music together should, can, and do. What a pleasure! Mastered at Masterdisk with loving care by the one and only Alex DeTurk.

- Psychic TV/PTV3’s new vinyl 12’ single “Silver Sundown Machine” came out in December. I’m happy to say that I played all of the guitar notes, and that most of them were “in key”. My partner in all-things-tacos Gary Atturio helped with tracking basics. We’ll be heading to Europe-town (towne?)for Roadburn Festival and a few other shows in the last half of April. Can’t wait!

- Ms. Tatiana Kochkareva and I have been working on two new songs as a follow-up to last year’s Infinity…more recording in a few months, yes!

- The end of 2012 brought with it the close of two long-termish projects I had really enjoyed working on for the majority of the year - new records by Kelly St. Patrick and Chris Abad. Super-happy and grateful to have make music with these two - and come to count them as friends!

- My friend Omer Leibovitz (Courtesy Tier) came in on a very cold November night and laid down six songs, guitar and vocal, live to tape. No punches, no edits, no synthesized reproductions of the Harlem Boys’ Choir, just a few scant overdubs. Talk about ballsy! The result is the new Dan Abraham EP. Love it.

- coming up in the next couple of months: Gunfight!, Dead Stars, Jane Eyre, Weird Owl, La Otracina, Tatiana Kochkareva, Strangers, and more…looking forward, to say the least!

and, from the Heartfelt Cheese Dept: lastly, a sincere and very loud THANK YOU to everyone who has entrusted me with recording their music and words. it’s a humbling honor and a pleasure to do so!

Whew! Way too long since my last post…I’ve been makin’ rekkids! Here’s the highlights of what I’ve been up to this late spring and summer:

-Updated both the demo reel and discography pages…new tunes, new records!

- Naam’s latest EP “The Ballad Of The Starchild” is out and ready for your consumption…perhaps while consuming something. We worked on it all throughout the winter last year, had a blast, and I’m super psyched (pun?) with the record. Recorded, produced, and mixed by yours truly - superb vinyl mastering by Alex DeTurk at Masterdisk. These dudes just released a sick video for the EP’s title track, too. Yes!

- Dead Stars released their “I Get By” 7”, recorded and mixed by yours truly at GFoil…on blue vinyl! Go see these guys if you get a chance - one of my favorite bands to see live. More recently, I also helped them record a new tune, “Fractured” at their practice space.

-Just finished mixing the new Psychic TV vinyl-only release - tracked live and mixed here at GaluminumFoil. As with the last few releases, each single contains a unique interpretation of a cover song, and a brand-new original. Can’t quite reveal what the cover is just yet….buuuuuut it’s pretty sick. NYC record release show in December!

-I spent a nice chunk of early June co-producing with the fine fellows of Quiet Loudly - four great guys, a studio dog, and a few repeatedly misplaced adult beverages resulted in their full-length, “Go Into The Light Smiling”. What a blast. Great psychedelic noise-pop songwriting! Tracked a good amount of the record live to our MCI 24-track, too.

- The wonderful Tatiana Kochkareva was in recently to work on a new single which will be out soon. Her album, “Infinity” came out earlier this year - I’m proud to have co-produced, mixed, and played various noisy instruments on it. One of my favorite records that I’ve had the privilege to work on. We also finished a pretty cool Christmas tune, which you can check out here. More soon!

-Mixed a couple of songs for Brooklyn’s awesome Heliotropes - and we just finished tracking a GREAT version of an old Roky Erickson song. Lots more from these guys yet to come -looking forward to their record in November!

- The Glorious Veins have been working on their second full-length, with basics tracked live to our 24-track MCI. This is the second record of theirs I’ve worked on - great songs, inventive lyrics, and fantastic guitar playing! They put together a great live-in-studio video for one of their new songs - tracked 100% live and mixed by yours truly at GFoil.

- Man The Change has been slowly releasing songs from our sessions earlier this year. The “Faded” EP just came out, and they’ll be releasing a full-length before the year is out.  Great dudes, and we had a blast putting the tracks together.

- Kelly St. Patrick has been working on her new full-length with me over the past year - we’re heading to mastering in September. Great alt-country vibe with a couple of cool covers thrown in…

- We’re now the mixing stage for Chris Abad’s forthcoming record, which we’ve been working on a few tracks at a time. Super-proud of this one - Chris brought in some great songs to work on, and we made judicious use of fuzz guitar on…well, a number of tunes!

- My ol’ pal Mary Page was in to work on a single from her new project, Jumpers. I produced, mixed, and got to play a little organ and guitar on it too. Sweet!

- couple of new gear additions to the studio, most notably our Regular John ‘Sick Sick Sick’ Buss Compressor (a great SSL clone) a Yamaha CS-5 monosynth, and a newly reconditioned vintage RCA 77-D ribbon mic.

…and much more!

Hi! Wow, it’s been a thoroughly awesome 2012 so far. Here’s some stuff I’ve been working on as of late:

- Recorded, produced and mixed Naam’s next EP, “The Ballad Of The Starchild” in January. Watch out for this one…HEAVY PSYCH! The band is fucking awesome and we’re all really happy with the way the record turned out. Many Rolling Rock brand beverages and bags of potato chips were consumed in the making of this one. Should be coming out sometime in the next couple of weeks. Go catch them live!

- Psychic TV just finished another round of limited edition vinyl-only records - “Thank You Pt. 1 & 2” and “Mother Sky/Alien Sky”…all tracked live and mixed here at GaluminumFoil! What a blast…”Mother Sky” in particular might be my favorite, it’s a loose interpretation of the Can tune. (Though that guitar player guy might need a couple of lessons, hmmm.)

- Dead Stars will be releasing their EP we did together on 3/7 at Union Pool here in Brooklyn. Furthermore, it’s being released on blue vinyl! These guys are one of my favorite bands I’ve worked with in a while - great songs and loud-ass fuzz guitars. Really can’t argue with those two things!

- My ol’ pal Tatiana Kochkareva was in recording a secret cover tune, to be revealed soon.. she’s releasing her album in April - we worked really long and hard on this one, and it’s one of my favorite records I’ve produced to date. You can check out a track from the record here.

-Got to take full advantage of GFoil’s live room when the 3rd Wheel Band came through and tracked an entire record completely live in 7 hours - three talented folks singin’ and playin’ guitar, mandolin, and upright bass.

- Other fun stuff: got to mix a European-only 12’ for La Otracina, working our way through Man The Change’s next record, and Monumints have been tracking their second record over the past few months. Pretty excited for who’s next on the agenda, as well: Heliotropes, Jumpers, Chris Abad, The Glorious Veins, and Quiet Loudly, among others…

- GFoil’s MCI 24-track will be up and running by April 1st. Fuck computers, lets make a real record!

-I’ve been threatening the guys in The Courtesy Tier to stow away in their van as they make their way down to SXSW. Go catch them live if you can!

- Picked up a ROLAND SPACE ECHO. YES.

oh yeah, I’m writing this from australia! I’m down here  playing the Adelaide Festival with Psychic TV. it’s been amazing so far…and yes, the toilets do flush in the other direction. and I’m going to go pet a kangaroo later today. (not kidding.) G’day mates!

just posted a quick little demo reel - which you can access by clicking “reel” on the right side of this page. much more to come!