What I did in February.

I took the RPM Challenge and failed.

But I feel really good about it! I reconnected with a bunch of different musician friends and made, I think, some great music. There's something about a collab with someone you know well but haven't worked with in a while. It almost always produces something great.

The reason I didn't finish is that the tracks were a little more detailed than they probably should have been for efficient completion. Last year I worked with a set instrumentation and a formatted recording approach, but this year, all that went out the window because I wanted to do mostly collaborations, and each song on the record is totally different. I'm still working on it. I have 3 more songs planned for the project, "sound collage" is going to get split in two, and I haven't decided if I'm replacing "Golden Burger", editing it, or leaving it as it is.

So anyway, here are links to the songs. They are all downloadable as 192kbps mp3s on the flip:

Patent Leather Robots Will Get Us First

This is a collab with P. J. Shapiro. I had originally envisioned it as chopped up into a single track of instrumentation and a single track of vocals, and I may get there yet, but as I've listened to and massaged the tracks, I'm hearing it very differetly now.

Turn Away, Yesterday

I love the whole idea of collaborating with someone I have never met, especially when it turns out this well. I think slumbering is awesome, and making this song together was a real treat for me. They say it's wrong to choose between your children, but... This one. This is the one...

Talkin' 'Bout Words

This was a really fun day. Susan, Karen, and I spent the whole day together, Malcolm, Susan and I came up with this recording and Susan and I did the next one down the list. TBW is full of very important information. Please study it carefully for the secret message.

Golden Burger of the Great Goddess Lakshmi

This is pure, in the moment improv. I played my lap dulcimer and Susan played banjo, perhaps for the first time, though it doesn't sound like it.

Medisin

is it 1978 again yet?

Sound Collage

this was fun to do. As I said, this will get split in two and placed at the beginning and end of the sequence.

Lost in the Woods

This collab with Josh Russell is probably the closest thing here to my 2007 CD for RPM, but it's also one of my faves of the record. Josh has studiously avoided getting hisself on the interwebs, so sorry, no link. But if you're ever in Damariscotta Maine, look him up!