New stereo preamp

I found a perfect little tape player for our back porch the other day (wood siding, with matching speakers- $5!) but needed a receiver or some kind of amplifier to boost its signal. Luckily, I had a pair of preamp circuits laying around and some time on my hands, so I built this:



1/16" laser cut acrylic, 6 pieces, no glue or screws. RCA ins and outs on the back, stereo 1/8" I/O on the front, along with ganged stereo volume and power switch/LED for each preamp. I realize this is technically a pair of mono blocks (and not true stereo), but let's all just stop being nerds for a minute and be happy that it works.

The acrylic is clear-- I had to cover the back in masking tape when cutting it, and was surprised to find that I liked the way it looked covered. I'll probably re-cut the housing out of balsa or something equally thin that I can stain to match its tape deck buddy, seen here in their natural habitat:

Radical Dads: live, processed

We toured around with our friends Radical Dads last month, and, as I'm prone to do with that band, I recorded every show.

When we got back, while I was digitizing the tapes, the Phonogene kept begging to be used-- I figured, "why not try to make something new out of something great?" So, with that said, here is a completely unrecognizable, occasionally-granular remix of a dictaphone recording of the Dads playing their hit "Hurricane" at the Project Lodge in Madison, WI-- the opening tune of one of the best sets I've seen them do:

Radical Dads "Hurricane" live, processed by Peter_Speer

Huggabroomstik, live in our house

Eagle-eyed readers of this blog will note that The Speers were scheduled to play a show with NY Antifolk kings Huggabroomstik on July 3rd, but have yet to post anything about it. Why? Well, it's a funny story...

Someone over at Sylvie's Lounge forgot to put the gig on their books, and, being the day before a holiday and with, apparently, nothing going on that night, they decided not to show up and open their doors. No one told us though, and, after hanging out in front of the bar for a couple of hours, we decamped back to our house for an impromptu concert and late night party.

So... here is the tour-sized version of Huggabroomstik (Neil, Preston and Johnny-- Dashan had long since passed out), at 2:30am, technically on July 4th, playing five songs in our living room (a venue we're calling Chez Stadium):

Huggabroomstik - July 3, 2011 by Chez Stadium

If you're anywhere near New York on August 14th, be sure to head over to Huggabroomstock 10, their annual all-day, two-stage music festival at one of our favorite venues in town, Goodbye Blue Monday. Our pals The Happy Rappies had their big debut at last year's Huggabroomstock-- here's a bootleg of their set:

Happy Rappies at Goodbye Blue Monday, 8/14/10 by Peter Speer

Lots of fun, LOTS of music and plenty of BBQ to go around. Make the scene, and tell the Broomstiks we say hi!

Show (in Wisconsin (in August))

Lady Rollins (or whatever we're going by that night) are playing at ACRE on August 19th, along with our pals Xina Xurner! Put some cooking oil in your Beetle bus and BE THERE!!

Speers rehearsal

July 5th, in our living room:

Rehearsal: July 5, 2011 by The_Speers

No shows at the moment, but we're trying to get some things together. Details as they happen!