Eric and I have begun working on the long awaited Stargrazer full-length, “My Dreams Are Running Late,” at the CrookedSound home studio.
It’s an educational experience for me, recording mostly acoustic tracks for now. We also spent about an hour and a half capturing windchime sounds and various string noises on my bass to use as atmospheres and background elements in the songs. The idea is to make as many sounds on the bass as possible — acoustic or electric — and then embellish with some unexpected sounds to fill it out and make it flow. Like a radio broadcast from the future being played on an antique radio. I’ve got a little electric violin plucking and droning (by Dave Hammond) planned for “Dream Domain” (which we recorded the basic track for last week), Nich providing a second electric bass on “You & Me Are Cities,” and some fuzz tones and field recordings here and there. There will be everything from robotic pure digital tones to dirty, distorted passages. It’s pretty exciting to work with Eric, who has a similar mindset.
We’re taking it slow so it comes out organically, discussing a lot of the arranging ideas as we go. I’ve been listening to a lot of Sparklehorse, Jose Gonzalez, Benoit Pioulard (who is from East Lansing – check him out!) and Jason Lytle — that’s the kind of vibe I want: homespun and honestly recorded yet spacey and unexpected. I might need some acoustic guitar players if any of y’all are so inclined. There’s one track in particular, “Shutter Speed,” that we’d like to re-cut (I faked the guitar parts with samples and keyboards for the demo) as a more “real” rendition. You can find the demo on both my myspace and facebook pages if you might be that person (Tommy?).
In my “spare” time, I’ve been getting settled into our new house with Randi, planning our delayed wedding reception for June 14 (next weekend!), and designing a series of posters for Narc Out The Reds. These two feature GTG bands at some upcoming gigs:
OK, I miss everybody. Working full time and moving and freelance designing and recording an album does not leave a person enough social time. Pretty excited to play with Timmy and Jessi at The Record Lounge in East Lansing on June 22nd.
GTG RECORDS 