Author. Writer. Editor. Fool.
This is my new album. I sing on it and stuff. You can download it and everything. So that’s neat. X-Sweet Happy Life 1) The Key to a Happy Life 2) Went Away 3) Down Down 4) So Much Blood 5) We Are Walking Avatars 6) Magic Nights 7) Summer Bottles 8) Ma vie est terminée 9) The First is Last 10) At the Window
When recording music, self-indulgence is a huge sin — and one I commit time and again. Can’t help it. It’s not like it’s musician wank. I’m not anywhere CLOSE to a good enough musician for that. It’s sound wank. Noise, big sound, layered drones, guitar feedback. Stuff no one wants to hear. But I like to hear it, so I do it. So anyway, I’m recording a new X-Sweet album, right? And X-Sweet tends to be my more traditional musical project, what with me singing reg’lar ol’ songs and all that. I’m not claiming it’s good, as you can see for yourself, I’m just saying it exists. I like doing honest to goodness songs, but I’m objective enough to admit my guitar soundscapes are far…
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… but will soon be doing it anyway. I mentioned previously that when my PC died my music ground to a halt with it. I kind of need to do music, though. It’s a creative outlet I can’t do without, especially since writing is as much work as it is fun. New PC is now up and running … and that means a new X-Sweet album is coming at some point in the near future. This time, though, I’m taking my time. I have a habit of rushing through this stuff, settling for good enough, and tossing it out the door before it’s ready. Too impatient; lack any drive to be a perfectionist with this stuff. This time I hope to sit on these tunes,…
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I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, what with being busy as hell on writing projects and all, but in early January my desktop PC keeled over in a flaming ball of computer death, shards of shrapnel flying around the living room like a Tom Hanks/Stephen Spielberg production. This was unfortunate for many reasons, one of the biggest (for me) being that I was right in the middle of a major music project. My first X-Sweet record in three years, specifically, and hopefully the best I’ve done so far. I’ve been writing a lot of music lately. Not the sprawling guitar soundscapes I love to do, but traditional songs with, like, singing and stuff. And I’d like to keep doing it. But I don’t record…
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It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since I first did this little tape. It was the summer of 1994. I had just gotten my trust TASCAM Porta 7, a four-track tape recorder that allowed talented people record demos and such, and allowed people like me to ruin the definition of “music.” Which is exactly what I did for the last few months of 1994, the time period from which this “music” springs*. I “sampled” (read: stole) chunks of music from elsewhere, slowed it down or played it backwards, laid other stuff on top of it, and generally just played around with things. Also recorded some noisy nonsense. And so on. Then, I made tapes. Remember cassingles? I grabbed every last one I owned,…
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