Leisure Cove

Photos from Saturday's show

2012-01-30T11:40:00.009-05:00

Running with the "Lightness & Darkness" theme, Jess and I played Thingamagoops on Saturday through the following pedals:

Jess:

Peter:

(I used the 4-track as a looper (there's a tape loop in a cassette in there))

This guy (AJ Cesena) built a tent out of thin cloth and mic stands before his set, which looked great:

...and these nice people wrestled around on the floor during while we played, which happened some three and a half hours after it was scheduled to:

We recorded the set, but something went a little haywire and what we got was 25 minutes of silence. A shame!

Holy shit we're playing a show tonight!

2012-01-28T19:58:00.004-05:00

We're playing at a book release party tonight for Lightness & Darkness at the Happy Dog (1542 N. Milwaukee, Second Floor). We'll be backing up readings by Taleen Kalenderian and Nicki Yowell. Starts 9ish, we go on second.

See you there!

Speers tape in the wild

2011-12-31T16:59:00.006-05:00

We've been on the road for the past couple of weeks, and before we put up a travel Mega-Post, I thought I'd mention first that the Speers cassette can now be found at the following record stores (there are two copies in each):

Montreal:
Phonopolis

Brooklyn:
Academy Annex
Desert Island

Barcelona:
Discos Paradiso
Luchador Records (no website yet-- NEW STORE!-- but it's next door to Discos Paradiso)

We'll be stopping by shops here in Chicago this week as well (Logan Hardware and Permanent for sure) and with any luck they'll carry them too. These are the only Colonial tapes to be sold in a store ever, aside from the one time our pal Lucas found a copy of the first Iran Contras album in an Oakland Salvation Army. What a score!!

Anyway, if you're near any of the above and are looking for a copy, stop on by. We're pretty much out all 50 at this point, but will have a couple of new tapes out in the coming weeks. Details soon...

Pagan Feelings live in New York!

2011-12-15T23:01:00.000-05:00

Everyone's favorite Summertime Fun Band of 2011, Pagan Feelings, will be playing at Cameo in Brooklyn on Thursday, December 22nd. Also on the bill:

Blood Revenge (Ben of The New Colossus)
Face Blindness (Chris and Lindsay of Radical Dads)
and... mystery band... still figuring that one out...

Anyway, ours is the late show, doors at 9pm. 93 N. 6th St., Brookyln. Cheap entry, good vibes aplenty.

Also, there will be copies of the Speers cassette and an even rarer CD-edition (10 copies) of the upcoming Pagan Feelings tape (Colonial Recordings USA #105). Be there and get your beautiful hands on them!!

_

2011-12-06T09:49:00.007-05:00

Here's something I've been working on this semester:

Magnetic Resonance Image by Peter Speer
It's a series of live mixes, using a modular synthesizer, sheets of metal and reverb units as the sound sources. The "presentation version," which I'll be debuting in a couple of hours, features two 7-foot sheets of aluminum, wired as reverberant amplifiers, as the rear channels of a 4-channel playback system:

Doepfer A-143-1 for sale!

2011-12-04T16:24:00.005-05:00

We're selling our Doepfer A-143-1 Complex Envelope Generator-- one of the true gems of the Doepfer catalog, in my opinion-- on eBay. If you're in the market, Buy It Now!

EDIT: SOLD (12/5)

Here are a couple of videos with the very 143-1 mentioned above from what Vimeo is telling me was three years ago (that can't be right, can it?):

The other EMS

2011-11-29T16:28:00.001-05:00

360 Systems 20/20 "tremolo"

2011-11-23T16:05:00.010-05:00

I am very fortunate to have a window of access to all manner of rare gear at the moment, including a full E-Mu modular system (!) and my favorite ring modulator of the pack, the 360 Systems 20/20 Frequency Shifter. Playing with the two earlier today, I managed to coax a downright beautiful tremolo out of the 20/20, which, sure, tremolo from a ring mod is nothing new-- set the modulating oscillator to sub audio and there you go-- but here's a bit of a twist:

The 20/20 has three outs: Low, Ring Modulation and High (the sum and difference have their own outputs (!)). Patching all three into channels of the mixer (with Low and High panned hard left and right) and playing their levels along with the dry signal, I was able to get these sorts of sounds:

360 Systems Frequency Shifter tremolo by Peter Speer

(the E-Mu photo = the drone patch you're listening to.)

New Speers tape!!

2011-11-17T18:41:00.006-05:00

The new Speers tape is here!!

Edition of 50, blue cassettes, duplicated and packaged by the nice people at In The Pocket Tapes. We'll be playing a few shows in December on the East Coast, and will be dropping off a few copies in record stores while on the road, as well as beforehand here in Chicago. If you're not in either place but would like one, drop us a line.

There are two recordings on this one, both of which have been posted here on this blog: 7/5/11 and 10/21/11. They're both about 15 minutes long, and were recorded by Jess-- the Albini of Humboldt Park!

In proper Speers style, the cover art was taken from Dorothy Lathrop's illustrations in "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years."

Colonial Recordings USA #107!

My reverbs

2011-11-16T09:30:00.004-05:00

Here's the reverb setup I have going on in my studio at school. Who needs a BX-20 when you have a piece of scrap aluminum? Well I do, sure, but until then, these will do:

Inspiration credit: Nic Collins.

"Silicon Valley Breakdown"

2011-11-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

Speers Nov. 6th rehearsal

2011-11-07T16:17:00.003-05:00

Our neighbor just moved and donated some gear to us on his way out.

Speers November 6th Rehearsal by Peter_Speer

We'll miss you Jeremy!

Trace momentary switches

2011-10-30T01:47:00.005-04:00

I realize etching six momentary switches is taking the long way around a problem, but I couldn't resist. This board will be included as part of a larger controller I'm putting together, and should have photos of in about a week.

Speers recordings from Thursday's rehearsal

2011-10-22T10:37:00.005-04:00

Recorded by Jess in our living room:

Speers, October 20th rehearsal by Peter_Speer

(Big thanks to Devin for the extended loan of his Pitch Shifter/Delay)

Lady Rollins set from last night

2011-10-17T17:53:00.004-04:00

Here's a recording of last night's set at The Whistler:

Live at The Whistler, October 16, 2011 by Lady Rollins

Caroline: reading from her book "Psycho Dream Factory" and projecting a video loop she'd made (I'm told there was a proper video recording as well-- look for an updated post once I get my hands on it)

Devin: prepared tape players

Jess: Thingamagoop

Peter: modular synthesizer

Lady Rollins strikes again!

2011-10-12T10:18:00.005-04:00

EDIT: this show is happening on SUNDAY not Saturday. NOT TODAY. TOMORROW. Whoops!

Everyone's favorite A/V/poetry ensemble Lady Rollins is playing THIS SATURDAY at The Whistler, along with readings by Ben Tanzer and The Dirty Poet. Jason Behrands (of Orange Alert) hosts. All at the early bird hour of 6pm! Be there!!

Videos from our recent shows:

Live at Acre:

Live at Roxaboxen:

Live at Ear Eater:

Tiny passive nearfields

2011-10-06T18:48:00.011-04:00

I had a couple of 2" paper cone speakers lying around and was looking for an excuse to get back on the laser cutter. A $2 investment in Masonite later, I built these:

The "S"/"M" (speaker/microphone) switch flips the polarity on the speaker.

Not surprisingly, they sound like third-hand Auratones... I'm going to work on the enclosure design and source other speaker types to see if I can get some semblance of bass response out of these things. In the meantime, I think they look nice and will work fine as special effect speakers. Success!

Photo from NY

2011-09-27T12:31:00.005-04:00

We were in New York over the weekend for party reasons-- these were taken around 3am on Saturday night:

New Speers recording!

2011-09-27T10:10:00.004-04:00

Has it almost been a month? Who knows where the time goes?? Here's a recording of last night's Speers rehearsal. We're hoping to play a show next Thursday... details as they happen. In the meantime, enjoy:

"Rehearsal - September 26, 2011" by The Speers by Peter_Speer

Back in Bay Ridge, briefly

2011-09-01T12:13:00.004-04:00

We were in New York over the weekend-- just in time for the hurricane!-- and I spent a few nostalgic minutes down in our old stomping grounds of Bay Ridge. Unsurprisingly, nothing has changed, as the neighborhood hasn't progressed much past 1991. I took a couple of photos while there, but none of them were especially great, so in their place enjoy this golden oldie about our favorite neighborhood in New York:

"I Want to go to Bay Ridge" by The Shamblers from Pete Shambler on Vimeo.

Photos from ACRE

2011-08-23T13:19:00.005-04:00

Recording from Sunday's show

2011-08-23T12:45:00.011-04:00

Lady Rollins was invited to play a set this past weekend at ACRE, in beautiful Steuben, WI (pop. 131). It was a total blast-- thank you to everyone involved, and especially to our friends Xina Xurner for putting us on the bill!

The sound guy taped the proceedings with a pair of decent microphones, but it might be a while before we get a copy of that file, so... in the meantime, here's our digital dictaphone recording of the event:

Live at ACRE, August 21, 2011 by Lady Rollins

Caroline, aside from occasionally singing, was projecting a video piece of hers that Jess, Devin and I were playing along to-- once we get the "real" recording from the ACRE folks, I'll post a compiled A/V video here so you can enjoy something closer to the experience of actually being there.

This is what we played:

Devin-- prepared guitar, bow:

Jess-- Thingamagoop, pedals:

Peter-- cassette tape loop, pedals:

Amp kit ver 1.1

2011-08-18T15:14:00.007-04:00

Now with a battery holder (and reorganized parts)!

Version 1.1 and 1.0:

First Eagle-to-prototype PCB

2011-08-15T19:24:00.006-04:00

One of my projects for the summer was to learn Eagle and design/build something with it. Luckily, this dovetailed with a work thing-- redesigning the PCB for a mono-in/stereo-out headphone amplifier kit.

The prototype was etched yesterday:

...and drilled, populated and tested (works!) earlier this afternoon:

I have a feeling this is going to make the hobby-to-addiction leap fast.

Behind Santa Rosa

2011-08-07T23:27:00.005-04:00

New stereo preamp

2011-07-23T20:13:00.006-04:00

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

2011-07-18T14:02:00.005-04:00

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

2011-07-14T10:05:00.026-04:00

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))

2011-07-11T21:30:00.004-04:00

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

2011-07-11T12:40:00.003-04:00

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!

Radical Dads TONIGHT!

2011-06-24T19:04:00.007-04:00

Our friends (including former New Mexicoe bandmate Lindsay Baker), Radical Dads, are playing TONIGHT in Chicago at Memories Bar! Be there!!

(Also-- they were just written up in the New York Times. Whaaaaaaaaat?)

Photo from after Wednesday's show

2011-06-24T11:28:00.002-04:00

Drone rehearsal

2011-06-22T10:43:00.007-04:00

Here's a recording of the patch I will be using at tonight's Lady Rollins performance:

Psycho Dream Factory drone by The Shamblers

A bit sloppy performance-wise, but you get the idea. The patch looks like this:

Hope to see you there!! Things kick off around 8:30/9 at Roxaboxen Exhibitions.

I finally got my hands on a laser

2011-06-21T01:06:00.006-04:00

I've been waiting years to make something with a laser! Like most people, my first impulse was to pop a giant bag of popcorn, but since time was short, I cut out my first prototype of a 6U case I've been working on instead, with box joints, spaces removed in the back for a uZeus power supply and I/O for a reverb tank (the driver will be mounted in the rails as a 4HP module).

Being a prototype, I cut it out of scrap cardboard. For the final version--which is still a few revisions away--I'll use something nice. Bamboo maybe. Here's one of the corners from today's version:

I'll be working on this all week and will hopefully have something a little more substantial to show by Friday.

Shows!!

2011-06-16T16:13:00.008-04:00

We've got a couple of shows lined up in the coming weeks:

Wednesday, 6/22 at Roxaboxen Exhibitions (2130 West 21st St):
Lady Rollins (the same line-up as Odd Sympathy, but with Caroline reading from her new book, Devin on guitar, Jess on feedback-bass and me on modular synth).

Sunday, 7/3 at Silvie's Lounge (1902 W. Irving Park Rd):
The Speers are opening for Huggabroomstik and "a noise band from Detroit" (that's what I was told-- I don't know which one).

UPDATE:
Line up:
Huggabroomstik
Err...
Zombie Jesus and the Sunshine Band
The Speers
Ouija Boards

Both are either free or very cheap. BE THERE!!

Patches from the Phonogene manual

2011-06-12T23:12:00.005-04:00

We picked up the new sampler module from Make Noise (Phonogene) on Thursday. In an attempt to get better acquainted with it, I've been running through the patch examples listed in the manual. Here are a few of them:

More soon!

Pagan Feelings

2011-06-07T09:10:00.010-04:00

Our pal and bandmate in New Mexicoe, Motorcycle Money and The Shift, Kyle T., visited over the weekend, prompting us to start a new group called Pagan Feelings. We recorded two songs (below) which will most likely see the light of day as a CDEP on Colonial. Our little label has been on a release-hiatus for the past year or so, but is about to open the flood-gates-- LOOK OUT!).

In the meantime, enjoy:

Chicago - 6/2/2011 by PAGAN FEELINGS

We have a garden!

2011-06-05T03:28:00.000-04:00

Since we have a yard, which was unthinkable in NYC, we are taking full advantage by planting a little garden. Above, you can see the first flowers on our crazy flower whose name I am ever forgetting. We also have mint (spear & pepper), a lonely basil plant, a recently transplanted pepper plant that a friend planted from seed last year, oregano, rosemary, lavender, something called foxy digitalis (I couldn't resist), collard greens, cauliflower, marigolds, and radishes!

The radishes I am particularly proud of, because they are the only things that survived when I planted seeds the day before our last snow storm of the year (in April, after the warmest day we'd had all year. It's been that kind of spring). Every couple of days, I decide that a couple of radishes are ready to be harvested and eat them. (Pete isn't a fan of radishes). Today, the two that I pulled were completely different colors, so I decided to do a taste test. My hypothesis was that the pink radish would be milder than the red radish, but I was terribly wrong. That pink radish was downright spicy.

Hopefully, one day we'll have pictures of home-grown cauliflowers and collard greens to share, but for now, please enjoy this insanely large store-bought artichoke.

"Temp. Bells"

2011-05-03T12:11:00.004-04:00

This is a modular synthesizer composition I have been working on, entitled "Temp. Bells." I am hoping to release it as a 12" single, paired with another (non-modular) piece, later this year. In the meantime, feel free to stream and/or purchase it (in a no-minimum, name-your-price fashion) below:

Temp. Bells by Peter Speer

Photos and video from last night's show

2011-05-01T11:23:00.006-04:00

Last night's set was webcast to what I'm told was an international audience of poetry lovers. (Hello New Zealanders!) Here's what they saw:

...and a couple of snapshots:

Thanks again to Cassandra and Sara (Ear Eater) for hosting!

Last minute show reminder

2011-04-29T11:32:00.002-04:00

Our pal Devin King will be giving a reading tomorrow (Saturday) night at a space in Pilson. The Speers will be playing feedback sounds behind him, and Caroline Picard will be projecting live video edits behind us. Should be FUN!

Details

143-1 drone

2011-04-24T12:33:00.009-04:00

I'm playing a modular duo set with Andy Ortmann tonight, and will be including this 143-1 patch in my bag of sounds:

I read about it on the forum last year or so, and bring it out whenever I'm looking for a steady, subtle 4-note drone, with control over pitch and mix of tones. If you've got a 143-1 (and you should! One of the true Doepfer gems) and are looking for a brighter option, take the End of Attack outs (square waves) and mix them externally-- this is available simultaneous to the more subdued Mix Out drone, by the way.

The forums are littered with interesting 143-1 patches... I'll put together a compilation post of them soon!

Project for school

2011-04-18T18:21:00.004-04:00

Should be finished next week. Photos/details then!

$0!

2011-04-13T00:05:00.005-04:00

Jess just brought this back from California. Anyone else think it looks exactly like the Moog Guitar?

Kinetic Gates w/o a Model 32

2011-04-09T14:40:00.010-04:00

Right before Plan B's public flame out, he/they briefly released a module that I was, and somewhat remain to be, interested in: the Model 32 Vector Plotter. It was introduced NAMM 2009, and it looked great. I don't know anyone who actually owned one. They show up on the second-hand market from time to time, but I've stayed away-- using Choices and a little patch cleverness to essentially cover the same ground.

For example, one thing the Model 32 did that made it unique was to provide "Kinetic Gates"-- trigger signals that were outputted whenever the joystick was in motion. We can get the same effect by using a joystick in combination with Doepfer's A-156 Dual Quantizer. Think about it: the 156 spits out a trig with each new voltage. A joystick sweeps through voltage ranges on both X and Y axises...

In the video below I've mixed the X and Y outputs from Choices, and sent their combined voltage to the bottom half of the 156:

Of course, you could send X to the top half and Y to the bottom for independent X and Y Kinetic Gates. You could mix the X and Y outs through a Max/Min and send the Max to the top half and the Min to the bottom. You could mult the combined X and Y trigger to a logical inverter and send the inverted and non-inverted trigs to envelopes which are opening hard panned VCAs for stereo operation. The list goes on. The point being Model 32-styled Kinetic Gates are achievable without having to take the risk of purchasing a second-hand late-period Plan B module.

Synth meet-up last weekend

2011-04-07T02:24:00.007-04:00

I've been reading about the Trash Audio/Xart synth meet-ups with interest since they started (or thereabouts), and was very excited to finally make it to one (their ninth) this past weekend.

Naturally, I brought a dictaphone with me on Saturday and plugged it into every rig I could get my hands on. The audio in the video below is a collage of some of those recordings. The video itself is from Sunday night's Alessandro Cortini/Richard Devine concert, with visuals by Johnny Woods on video synth.

It should go without saying, but it was a great time. I got to meet some folks for the first time (James Cigler! Mike Wiggler!!) and got to say hello to some old friends, too (Stephen!). My only complaint about the Chicago meet-ups is that they don't happen more often-- they do things once-a-quarter here. The NY/NJ scene had a very informal monthly get-together, which was always a treat. Hopefully, I can get something like that started before long.

In the meantime, enjoy:

New Make Noise granular sample player:

Muff Wiggler himself:

"September Remembered" by Thee Iran-Contras

2011-03-29T20:01:00.002-04:00

We recorded 6+ hours of new music this weekend, including this gem:

$55!

2011-03-23T01:20:00.000-04:00

e350-- new faceplate

2011-03-22T19:37:00.014-04:00

Somehow, without realizing it, we've become a digital oscillator household. Or so you'd think by looking at the current state of our modular. The imminent release of a certain VCO by a certain company I build for will slide the scales back to the analog side of things, but in the meantime, we have a Hertz Donut, a Cloud Generator and a Morphing Terrarium all in a row, which I call "perfect sine alley." We own a uLFO, too (production model #001), which holds its own just fine in terms of sound quality and sine purity (is that even a thing anymore? Am I dating myself in dredging up that reference?).

The e350 Morphing Terrarium was built from Synthesis Technology's "kit" version, which is essentially the fully built PCBs, minus the pots, jacks and faceplate-- all surface mount work is done for you, at a $100+ savings. Not bad!

I was interested in bringing the jumper pins on the back (which enable/disable wavetable interpolation and reassign the outputs into phase shifted copies) to the faceplate, a popular mod for the module, so I contacted Pro Modular about etching an extended panel for me (with an additional 2HP to accommodate the switches), and asked David from Bubblesound for Illustrator help.

After a short wait, the revised faceplate arrived with yesterday's mail. I threw some Davies knobs on there and KA-BLAM! It looks like this:

BEAUTIFUL! Thank you again to Stephen and to David for their help, and to Paul for designing such an interesting module.

We played a show!

2011-03-15T00:50:00.007-04:00

We're so behind on this blog that I'm posting a photo from a show that happened a couple of weeks ago at The Corpse, one which I did not even post a flier for beforehand...

This is a roundabout way of saying: HELLO! How have you been? We're officially moved in here, and are adjusting to life west of the east coast. There will be new synth videos and such up this way shortly, and hopefully more news about both The Speers and Emotional Haircut Decisions, the two bands we have going on at the moment.

Speaking of The Speers, we have two shows lined up in the coming months: April 30th, at "some dude's house in Pilson" (I'll update this with details when I have 'em), we will be backing up Chicago poet Devin King during his reading there. No rehearsals yet, but if you bet on us playing feedback for most of it, you'd probably do alright.

Then, on May 13th, we'll be playing at our favorite group in town (Names Divine)'s CD release party at Mortville. YES!!

With any luck, there will be an announcement about a few more gigs between now and then. Stay tuned!

Finally, I am very very excited to say that THEE IRAN-CONTRAS ARE COMING TO CHICAGO! IN TWO WEEKENDS, IN FACT!! We'll be recording a new CD in a rented house, as is our style. If you happen to know anyone with a drum set who wouldn't mind loaning it to us for a few days, please get in touch. We really only need the flood tom and snare.

Tough guys with perms

2011-02-01T16:58:00.004-05:00

Live feed of the blizzard in Chicago

2011-02-01T16:35:00.001-05:00

New Year's music

2011-01-02T20:42:00.011-05:00

As has become our annual tradition, we stayed in this New Year's Eve, had some drinks and recorded some music, including these Beach Boys and Lee & Nancy covers:

"Surfer Girl" by The Speers by The Shamblers

"Summer Wine" by The Speers by The Shamblers

Happy 2011 to everyone!

First patch in our new home

2010-12-10T21:52:00.001-05:00

Free furniture

2010-11-28T09:03:00.007-05:00

We're moving (Tuesday!!) and are letting some furniture go for free. Come out to beautiful Bay Ridge and they're yours!

Write to colonialrecordingsusa@gmail.com if interested.

Filing cabinet (legal sized) - 52" tall x 18" wide x 27" deep.

Drafting table - 43" wide x 30" tall x 20" deep

Work bench - 59" wide x 30" tall x 18" deep

Bookshelf - 78" tall x 32" wide x 11.5" deep

(we've taken the shelves out for you-- ready to go!)

"Swear Back At Time" by Motorcycle Money

2010-11-13T13:36:00.004-05:00

Recorded live to 4-track at this week's rehearsal in Gowanus:

"Swear Back At Time" by Motorcycle Money by Colonial

Motorcycle Money playing next Tuesday!

2010-11-10T01:20:00.004-05:00

Motorcycle Money is playing next Tuesday (11/16) at Zebulon in Williamsburg. It's going to be a good one, and my last NY gig for the next stretch. Come out and cheer us on (or, really, zone out. We've taken a drone turn).

Also, Lichens is playing there the following night. I'll be at that one for sure as well.

Hope to see you out next week!! I'll have mystery gift CDs on hand-- free if you ask for one.

NY Crew

2010-10-31T11:06:00.003-04:00

All-synthesizer show tonight!!

2010-10-25T12:47:00.004-04:00

Jess (Moog, sampler) and I (modular, tape loops) are playing solo synthesizer sets TONIGHT at Sycamore in Brooklyn. Our friend Megafortress (DX7, harmonizers) is closing. It's going to be a fun one! Hope you can make it. 9pm, $5.

I'll be using this patch:

Yes please

2010-10-06T22:28:00.008-04:00

Has Fender ever made a Squire version of their Esquire model? A Squire Esquire?

Related question, can I borrow $25,000, and/or have a personal assistant to handle my eBay doings (ala, apparently, Pete Anderson)?

Yikes.

Shows! (ALL CONFIRMED)

2010-10-05T12:03:00.013-04:00

Hello strangers. Jess and I are playing a few shows in the upcoming month:

Friday, 10/15
The Parkside Lounge
The Speers (debut show, fourth attempt), with our pal Patrick Elkins and the Rainbow Vomit Family Band

Monday, 10/25
Sycamore
Peter Speer (modular synth and tape loops), with Megafortress and Radiation Spider (AKA Jess-- first show!!)

Tuesday, 11/16
Zebulon
Motorcycle Money (w/ Will Edmiston), with Megafortress and Brian Moran

These will most likely be our last gigs in New York for a long, long time. We're moving to Chicago in December.

That said, Motorcycle Money is planning on playing shows in Pittsburgh and Philly in early November, too. Details will be added as they happen. Stay tuned!

New Mexicoe rehearsal

2010-09-23T01:11:00.007-04:00

New Mexicoe had its first rehearsal in long while this past Thursday. I showed up early with some mics and recorded the whole thing.

Stream/download it here:

New Mexicoe - September 16, 2010 by New Mexicoe

I didn't get a photo of Kyle that night, so in its place enjoy this shot from his birthday:

"Over the Hill" by New Mexicoe

2010-09-23T00:30:00.004-04:00

New Mexicoe, at our practice space this past Thursday. ~~I recorded all of it, and will be posting more songs tomorrow~~ See next post. In the meantime, enjoy this cover of John Martyn's "Over the Hill," alongside storm footage from a few hours ago:

Motorcycle Money set

2010-09-18T22:33:00.006-04:00

Recorded by Jess at last night's impossibly loud Motorcycle Money show:

MotoMoney-Will-9-17-10 by augustlincoln

Motorcycle Money drone

2010-09-15T12:54:00.001-04:00

Friday night's show will sound like this, plus drums, plus feedback:

Flier for Friday's show

2010-09-14T20:51:00.008-04:00

Not mine, but accurate:

Motorcycle Money (Kyle and I) are going on first, at/around 9pm, and will be joined by Will Edmiston-- reading poems from his upcoming chapbook, "effie" (out this Fall on 3 Sad Tigers Press), while we try out new sounds.

Kyle is on drums; I'm on lap steel.

>Tommy's Tavern is at 1041 Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint.

"The Iran-Contras" reissue + new outtakes EP

2010-09-07T22:04:00.018-04:00

Original front cover:

New front cover:

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the first Iran-Contras cassette-- Colonial's first release-- has been reissued in digital format as CR-100. Recorded June of 2000 at 13 Colonial Ave. in Annapolis, MD onto two tracks in this room:

This was a college town, summer survivors weekend get-together, which Terry organized and I recorded-- we weren't a band, didn't know each other that well and had zero prepared material before getting started. Basically, everyone Terry knew who was still in town after the school year ended was invited to come over to the house we were renting to drink and make music. Afterward, he suggested I make copies of a mix from that weekend's tapes, and it became Colonial Recordings USA 001. There are about 50 of them floating around, on 36-minute yellow cassettes that I bought for next to nothing from a now defunct congregational supply distro. The first 20 had an American flag sticker on Side A.

Stream it for free here:

"s/t" by Thee Iran-Contras by Thee Iran-Contras

As a bonus, I've pieced together the tracks that were recorded during the weekend that led to the tape but didn't make it onto the final edition-- all of which previously unreleased-- onto a new EP, called "Jersey Jump" (CR-101). Named after the guy who inadvertently named the band, Justin Andrews. CR-101.

Free stream here:

"Jersey Jump" by Thee Iran-Contras by Thee Iran-Contras

All tracks are download-able as well. I'll have both of these up for about month, after which point they will be available on CD-R from the label.

Enjoy!

Five shows at once

2010-09-05T00:16:00.006-04:00

I made the following tape collage a couple of weeks ago for our friend Robbie's birthday:

Radical Dads - "Five Shows At Once" by Peter Speer

Five Radical Dads concerts, layered and reshuffled into a single set-- complete with a tuning/banter break about halfway through. Best through headphones.

The CD version was an edition-of-one thing, with stamped covers. It looked like this:

Desolate Astroland

2010-08-31T23:31:00.014-04:00

Another summer, another video starring Coney Island:

The music in it is a patch I've had up on the modular since the weekend and have been reluctant to tear down. I'll miss you, creepy sci-fi background music patch...

Edit: can any of our intrepid readers tell me how to remove the letterbox-style black spaces from the video above? Is it a resolution setting or something (I'm using iMovie and don't actually know what I'm doing)? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Update: video repaired! If you're having this sort of thing happen to your iMovie files (unintentional letterboxing), be sure to select the correct format when creating a new iMovie file (the default is set for an 3:2 aspect ratio-- changing this to 16:9 ("DV widescreen") removed the black spaces).

Shows this weekend and next week

2010-08-25T23:18:00.011-04:00

It seems like nothing but show postings around here these days:

The Christian Pirate Puppets-- with special guest Sam (from The Leader) on drums-- are playing a CD-release party at Goodbye Blue Monday this Sunday, headlining a handpicked all-star bill. Ten new songs, based on our favorite no-budget, 90s LA kung fu classic, "For Hire"/"Lethal Ninja" (the movie uses one on the box and the other in the credits). It's going to be insanely good. Plus: it's free! Here's a photo from this evening's run through of the songs-- it's tough to see, but Chris is wearing a homemade "For Hire" t-shirt:

Then, on Wednesday, September 1st, at 7:30, Chris and I will be reprising our roles as The Science Jerks at the Sidewalk Cafe. Classic rock covers, played in the style of Half Japanese, with an entirely new batch of songs for the show!!

Motorcycle Money: September 17

2010-08-24T09:07:00.002-04:00

This just in: Motorcycle Money is playing at Tommy's Tavern on Friday, September 17th! Also on the bill: Estrogen Highs, Outer Spacist and Day Creeper!

Flier and details will be up here once I have 'em. BE THERE!!

The Shamblers are playing on Thursday

2010-08-16T20:11:00.003-04:00

The Shamblers are playing at Matchless in Greenpoint THIS THURSDAY at 10pm (show starts at 7). We're bringing this old chestnut out of retirement for the occasion:

BE THERE!!

Mototcycle Money: back in action!

2010-08-16T08:56:00.004-04:00

Motorcycle Money got together last Thursday after a month's rest, and it turns out we haven't missed a step. Kyle and I hope to play a show soon-- details will be posted here well before it happens. In the meantime, enjoy this little jam from Thursday's rehearsal:

Motorcycle Money rehearsal at Flood, 8/12/10 by Colonial

Thee Iran-Contras in Portland

2010-08-11T22:31:00.006-04:00

Thee Iran-Contras played their second impromptu show at the Spare Room in Portland, OR in as many years this past weekend, at the post-reception afterparty for Colonial co-founder and stand up citizen Terry D. 50% older hits (mostly from my favorite of our CDs, "That's We Rapping"), 50% made-up-on-the-spot new ones. For example:

The full set can be heard here:

Thee Iran-Contras live at The Spare Room, 8/8/10 by Colonial

We wish you were there, too! Photos soon...

Shows in August!

2010-07-22T17:11:00.009-04:00

The Shamblers are playing on 8/19 at Bar Matchless in Greenpoint. We go on at 10pm--the flier for that one is forthcoming. Line-up:

7 Ultra Death Men
8 La Defense
9 Palmyra
10 The Shamblers
11 The House Floor

The Christian Pirate Puppets are playing a CD release party on 8/29 at Goodbye Blue Monday (w/ a pretty killer bill, see flier (by Toby Goodshank) below).

Our new disc ("For Hire") features songs directly influenced by our favorite film, "Lethal Ninja" (alternately titled "For Hire," depending on the edition you find). The monologue in the middle of our 2007 hit "Solid Gold Pizza" was lifted directly from a scene in it. Be there!

I have a Blofeld for the week!

2010-07-18T14:25:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking about swapping our Opus 3 out for something a bit more modern (by which I mean it will break down less often). Having mentioned that to my pal David, he let me borrow his significantly-more-modern Blofeld (from Waldorf, of PPG fame).

Like anyone who has never used a digital keyboard before, I've stuck mainly to the pad sounds. I'll post some audio later this week, provided I can record something worth listening to. Seriously-- this is how it's gone so far: hold down a C chord, wait 2 minutes, tweak the filter, hit C again, repeat.

You had to be there

2010-07-15T08:29:00.001-04:00

eBay pick of the day: Ace Tone EH-50

2010-07-13T16:06:00.007-04:00

Ace Tone EH-50

$300 for essentially a dumbed down Doepfer 188-1 (1024 stages) is a lot, sure, but the Ace Tone is a beaut-- look at those push buttons and that ridiculously small VU meter! Who wouldn't want this thing?

On a side note, check out this drooler of a beautiful-machine gallery. I like how the 201 Space Echo-- by far the most common one on the page-- is the most clip art-y of the bunch. That guy photographed (and I assume owns) a Guyatone EM-808D, but not an RE-201. Well done, sir!

Bootlegs from last week

2010-07-08T23:16:00.020-04:00

Here are dictaphone recordings of last week's gigs, both of them equal parts sloppy and fun.

The Science Jerks show was a showcase of equipment failure (a cable that kept shorting out, a guitar that refused to stay in tune), and a bit of a room-clearer, but I think we held true to the premise of the band (it's a concept group, in which Chris and I are time-traveling scientist jerks who wrote all of the Classic Rock cannon, and have come back to play the hits as originally intended) and had a good time. Amazingly, I managed to record our only practice--the day before the show--with real equipment. Look out for a CD-R on Colonial shortly! I had seven "advance" copies with me at the Sidewalk, but they disappeared immediately.

The Motorcycle Money one was on an unbelievably hot day, the first in a string of 'em. I was not feeling great. "Superfan Dave" (New Mexicoe's #1 fan) was in attendance, which was a surprise indeed. The vocals were very low, the guitar was very loud (despite a surprisingly long sound check). My apologies. Our next show will sound better. Still, I like it and thought we did alright.

Thanks to everyone who came out! Enjoy!!

The Science Jerks live at the Sidewalk Cafe, 7/1/10 by Colonial

Motorcycle Money live at Bruar Falls, 7/4/10 by Colonial

(Drums on the Science Jerks set: Casio SK-1. Drums on the last Motorcycle Money song: Korg PSS-50)

Shows this week

2010-06-28T18:49:00.005-04:00

I'll be playing first shows with two different bands this week:

Thursday, 11:30: The Science Jerks (Chris from the Christian Pirate Puppets and I) at the Sidewalk Cafe. 60s frat rock, played on Casios. Nan Turner is on at 10!

Sunday, 8:30: Motorcycle Money (Kyle from New Mexicoe and I) at Bruar Falls. Lots of guitar solos and an Alan Vega cover, too. Opening for Kyle's old band, The Stoned Ambassadors. This is happening during some sort of BBQ event, naturally.

Both shows are free! I'll have copies of Movie Night: The Band (Chris, Jess and I)'s brand new debut EP with me, if you've been waiting for that one-- free if you ask for it by name. Come on out!

Most Delicious Dinner

2010-06-11T00:15:00.000-04:00

You guys I made such a delicious dinner tonight. Based on the delicious stylings of Mark Bittman in Kitchen Express (Italian Tostada, pg. 173), I made a sort of red pesto tortilla pizza and I think I'll have the same thing for dinner tomorrow night. You can read all about it at Sunday Vegan Sunday, which is back!

Upgrades!

2010-06-05T22:02:00.005-04:00

We switched out a handful of modules last week. Here are the new additions:

The Shamblers set at Union Hall

2010-06-03T19:05:00.001-04:00

Shamblers at Union Hall May 31 by The Shamblers

Party

2010-05-23T01:39:00.001-04:00

What? The Shamblers are playing? 5/31? Union Hall?

2010-05-10T17:16:00.003-04:00

Yes: The Shamblers are playing for the first time in over a year on Monday, May 31st at Union Hall in Brooklyn. Also on the bill: A Smile and a Ribbon (from Sweden!!!) and The Soft City.

Show starts at 7:30, we're going on last. $7. BE THERE!!

Doepfer A-152 harsh noise

2010-05-08T20:48:00.005-04:00

I've been interested in and confused by Doepfer's A-152 module since I first heard about it, some two years ago. Everyone who had one recommended one, but descriptions and videos were always more in-context than explanatory (aside from Doepfer's manual for the module, which I finally read and is excellent).

I'm happy to say that one has now been added to the sequencing row of our system! And while I get used to working with it, enjoy this patch based on an example in the manual for a "Graphic VCO" (with audio rate CV feeding the switches):

More videos/a review as soon as I figure out what I'm doing...

eBay pick of the day: $650 English Muffin stand

2010-05-02T10:31:00.002-04:00

Talk amongst yourselves.

Pressure Points is here!

2010-04-24T09:19:00.025-04:00

Our Pressure Points module arrived on Friday and has been seeing regular use since. It is a touchplate controlled voltage selector with four copper trace "pads" and a host of outputs (more on that in a second).

Before going into my small review below, I first want to say that Pressure Points is NOT a quad channel, pressure sensitive gesture controller, as I had originally led myself to believe. If that's something you're looking for, this isn't it.

Yes, it does have four channels with "Pressure" outputs on each, and yes, these outputs behave in much the same their name implies (the "harder you press on the copper traces" (i.e. how much of your finger is covering the trace (i.e. it's not actually pressure sensitive)) the stronger voltage will be at that channel's Pressure output).

BUT you can only "play" one pad at a time. So, if you have Channel 1's Pressure output controlling filter cutoff and Channel 2's controlling pitch, you cannot modulate both simultaneously*. It was a bit of a drag to find this out after ours arrived and I almost tried swapping it out on the forums for a Synthwerks FSR-4.

However, on some good advice, I slept on it and spent most of Saturday getting to know the module. Turns out, as is the case with most Make Noise modules, you have to put in some work before understanding/loving it.

Instead of thinking of Pressure Points as a pressure controller, which it is but isn't, it's better to imagine of it as a playable sequencer. Each pad selects a channel, which is represented by a vertical row of three knobs. Placed next to each other, the three resultant horizontal rows terminate in the Tuned Voltage outputs on the right-hand side. The top row's knobs scale voltage between 0-8v, with the middle and bottom rows offering 0-5.5v. Playing the touchplates, then, allows up to three destinations to be modulated simultaneously by these values.

In this video, Tuned Voltage outputs 1 and 2 are sent to a quantizer, and from there are controlling a Tip Top Z3000 and Bubblesound uLFO. Tuned Voltage output 3 is changing the pitch of the accent drum (a Maths channel at audio rate, sent into a wave multiplier):

I apologize for the sound quality-- the VCOs (after being mixed together) were sent into a Doepfer 134-2 crossfader, the fidelity of which leaves much to be desired-- but you get the general idea. Being able to scale each Tuned Voltage output AND create the sequences at will provides a huge amount of room for control and flexibility.

The best part: Pressure Points, as a system, is entirely modular. Meaning that up to four Pressure Points modules can be chained together, expanding the number of touchplates/voltages options at the Tuned Voltage outputs. Plus, as mentioned in the module's manual, the upcoming Points Expander module will add "traditional" sequencing abilities to the module, though if the NAMM footage was any indication, the quotes around "traditional" will be cartoonishly large.

I still plan on picking up an FSR-4, as I really like the idea of pressure modulation, but will also be adding a second Pressure Points in the near future. 4 pads is good, 8 is much better.

---

*In this example, the fiter's cutoff would be modulated whenever Channel 1 is selected, and the VCO's pitch would be modulated whenever Channel 2 is selected, but since Channels 1 and 2 cannot be selected together, the Pressure Outs cannot act simultaneously.

Prep work

2010-04-19T10:25:00.004-04:00

Not to make this a "photos of our new case" blog, but here's another photo of our new case:

Brought it out to the rehearsal space yesterday to practice for an upcoming show with Family and (hopefully) White Wave. It's easy to forget how much better something can sound through a good amp when you don't own one yourself. Case in point: Twin Reverb (see above). You will be mine. Oh yes, you will be mine.

Show details soon!

Alert the truancy officer

2010-04-14T08:57:00.005-04:00

This new case is making me regularly late for work. Here's a photo of the drone patch I've had up since waking up-- no time for a proper recording this morning...

...that said, now that our synth is portable, I'm hoping to play out with it SOON. Details will be posted here as they happen.

Mission 9 arrives!

2010-04-05T23:49:00.026-04:00

Our Mission 9 case from Monorocket arrived today and it's a looker! Three rows of 88HP (you can push it to 90HP, I'm told), a solid 3 amp power supply and covered in beautiful "Fender Smooth Brown" tolex. With a matching lid. I've spent about as much time oogling it as I have playing it.

I've planned out the rest of the system as best I can (though with new modules coming out at their current pace it's more of an educated guess than a plan), and have blocked out spaces in the case for the final pieces.

The rack's rails use sliding nuts, which are not my favorite (I prefer my old Schroff's threaded strip solution), but it's hardly an issue. It just means a few extra minutes in mounting everything, and a little additional head-scratching in leaving accurate spaces for things-to-come. I was lucky: the modules I'm saving for now are the same size as ones I already own, so I could use them for measurements. But if I was saving space for something odd, like a Triple Wavefolder or a UEG, it would be a bit trickier. I'm not faulting Monorocket for this-- simply a matter of preference on my end. On a related note, my case came complete with an abundance of screws, which fit the nuts perfectly. Nothing like having shinny new screws to go with a beautiful new case. A nice touch.

Before ordering, I'd read some concerns on the forums about the shallowness of the Mission cases. I'm happy to report that our Z3000, which has the deepest PCB in our system, sits comfortably in the Mission 9 with a full "thumb's length" of distance between its bottom and the distro board (see below). In total, the Mission 9 has 4" of usable depth, from faceplate to header.

I'd also read about the ultra-bright blue LEDs on their new bus boards. They are, indeed, ultra-bright. I may have to try Felix's old "nail polish" trick on them (fast forward to 2:17 in this video), though they do make the case seem "alive inside" in a way that dimmer LEDs wouldn't.

Steve from Monorocket was great to deal with-- I fully recommend ordering from him, and plan on doing so again when we outgrow today's arrival. Mission 9 cases are the best deal going in the format, and he's moving production away from custom cases into a standard issue-- black tolex, hardware-- in order to meet demand and eliminate the one problem customers have had with his work: availability. Monorocket cases came with high praise, which is completely deserved. Big thanks to Shawn at Analogue Haven for making it happen, too.

On the night shift

2010-03-26T10:32:00.005-04:00

I picked up a second job, doing soldering work for a local synth maker. Last night was my second shift, so to speak, and my first one doing any actual soldering (the first was just bending resistor legs).

I love soldering, especially large projects like this-- something about the repetitive work calms me down and puts me in a nice mood. Granted, it could be the fumes...

Our Mission 9

2010-03-17T10:49:00.007-04:00

Our Mission 9 case from Monorocket will be in New York in, oh, a week and a half. I cannot, cannot, cannot wait.

We've had it covered in "Fender Smooth Brown" tolex with chrome hardware (one of the last custom jobs they did-- all Mission cases are now black tolex only) and added a lid. I thought about having RCA jacks installed next to the power switch (to connect alternate spring tanks to a Doepfer A-199, should we ever buy one), but will have to wait for our next Mission 9 for that or just mod this one.

Exciting times! Look out for an embarrassment of photos once this thing arrives.

"Howl" by The Shamblers

2010-03-10T22:46:00.002-05:00

Audio: 12/31/07

Video: 2/10/10

New favorite breakfast

2010-02-28T22:43:00.004-05:00

Mung beans, wheat berries, avocado and Cholula. Jess' genius invention.

Works great as a taco filling with a little red chili sauce, too!

Just watched "Gomorrah"

2010-02-28T21:20:00.005-05:00

Woah.

I missed this when it was in the theater, despite reading its reviews/having everyone I know be impressed by it. Seriously: holy shit. It's like "The Wire", but without cops and redemption.

Not a joke

2010-02-27T22:07:00.003-05:00

I just got word that someone found an Iran-Contras cassette in an Oakland thrift store.

Videos and recordings from the "New Bands" concert

2010-02-26T21:04:00.009-05:00

At long last, you can listen to the recordings from the "New Bands" concert, mentioned a couple of posts back on this very blog. See the embedded player below for more information...

February 13th, 2010 by February 13th 2010

AAaaaaaand here are a couple of clips of Simple Mystery (AKA Band 3)'s performance at the show, expertly filmed by Band 2's Phil Sutton.

You might recognize a handful of familiar faces in those videos-- people from Thee Iran-Contras, Tender & Vulnerable and Two Gun Mathilda all together on one stage! What a night!!

I'm hoping to put together another one of these New Band shows in late March. Details will be posted here as they happen. If you'd like to be involved, please get in touch!

Doepfer A-137!

2010-02-22T23:56:00.004-05:00

Our new (used) Doepfer A-137 Wave Multiplier arrived this afternoon. Here's the first patch it was involved in:

Sine from the uLFO sent to the wave multiplier, sequenced by a combination of clock divider, clock sequencer, ELF LFO and Max/Min modules, along with the A-156 Dual Quantizer. The 137 is being controlled by the 143-1 Complex Envelope Generator. Serge sounds!

Photos from last night's show

2010-02-14T22:33:00.011-05:00

Last night, the "new bands" show I organized happened and went off without a hitch! I recorded the show and the groups individually recorded their afternoons. Expect at least a CD from all of this in the next few weeks to be out on Colonial.

Thanks to everyone who played and to everyone who showed up. I hope to put together another one of these shows in the next month or so.