The first thing I listen for when I put on a new John Vanderslice album is the production. Sure Vanderslice is a great songwriter, great arranger and all that, but his sense of crisp pop production is phenomenal… he’s one of the best out there. Vanderslice’s new album Romanian Names — his first on Dead Oceans, after six on Barsuk — very well could be his best. It’s full of catchy melodies, swirling analog synths and computerized beats and yet still fairly melancholy.
This song here really reminds me of a great band we haven’t heard from in a long time, Flotation Toy Warning.*
*Note: This is NOT, as our very own Aryn Crowley thought, Flotation Toy Warning, but John Vanderslice. The song just had certain qualities that reminded of the other band. For those who did love Flotation Toy Warning’s 2004 album, they reportedly are set to finally release a followup later in 2009.
Hello Come In’s 2009 RPM Challenge album, ‘You Cant Find Your Way Outside.’
We know it’s been years since you’ve heard from the crew over at hellocomein.com, but fear not young maidens and noble gentlemen, the beast has not been slain permanently. After our year-long hiatus, we’ve had a productive month of February, and created the newest edition in the ongoing melodrama: You Can’t Find Your Way Outside.
This undertaking was written, performed, and recorded (mostly) in the month of February for the famed RPM Challenge. For those unaware, the RPM Challenge, costs no money to enter, does not provide any winnings of millions for the best entries, and really, is merely a catalyst to inspire people to get out of their nightly taco-flavored-Dorrito-fueled reality television watching lifestyle, and get them to make music for the sake of making music. The rules are simple: you have the month of February to completely create either 35 minutes of music, or 10 songs — whichever comes first.
Listen to our attempt at greatness: Some songs are pure genius, while others only part genius. But it’s safe to say that you will either be crying from joy, or despair, or not at all, after listening. The point of the project is not true perfection of the final product, but the process of creating and making music. We hope that comes across in these new songs.
Please leave comments here in the blog about what you love/hate/don’t care about, to help encourage us to create again, or give up for good.
Thanks and good night sweet princes.
~Aryn & Mike
Hello Come In — Chicago & Washington D.C. Divisions
1. White Walls
2. Half Awake
3. The Winch
4. The Academy Of Birds
5. Yellow Matter
6. You Are The Sea
7. Why The Oceans Matter
8. This Is A Fire
9. Music Box
Produced by Mike Katzif
Recorded and Engineered by Aryn Crowley and Mike Katzif
Mixed and Mastered by Mike Katzif and Hello Come In
at Hello Come In Studios, Washington DC & Chicago IL; February 2009
Artwork and layout design by Mike Katzif
Cellos on “Yellow Matter” by Thomas Pierce
Special Thanks to Greg Johnson, Robin Hilton, and our dozen fans.
All Songs by Mike Katzif, Aryn Crowley and Hello Come In, Copyright 2009
UPDATE 3/2: For those who care to watch Sir Tom Jones in action, video is now up.
I think Robin’s write up is incredibly accurate: While Jones has accumulated quite a reputation as schlock and cheesey moves over the years — not to mention spoofed by Carlton on the Fresh Prince — there is no denying why this incredibly talented guy rose to the top. Even in this intimate setting I think he really sounded great, was very genuine and was quite the showman.
Last week I was introduced to a great new unknown band called The Antlers. The new album Hospice is a dark orchestral and electronic pop album that recalls Arcade Fire’s bombast and the quivering and mannered voice of Antony. The song that sold me was the opener “Kettering.” But this one below really blew me away this morning while eating breakfast and reading the news; it’s much more joyful and upbeat musically, though of course a hint of sadness in the lyrics.
UPDATE 3/11: Just saw The Antlers perform live tonight at The Black Cat for probably 35 people tops. We were taping the show for NPR Music to put up at a later date, but all I can say is wow. Going in, didn’t know what to expect: For as intricate and full a sound they have on the album, I was curious if they would be able to recreate it live, or if they would adapt the material. Many bands like this often end up a tad underwhelming or pale in comparison.
But The Antlers — with only 3 members (guitarist\vocalist, drummer, keyboardist on a Fender Rhodes) — managed to capture the songs but expand upon them in new ways…usually in a wash of guitar feedback and heavily distorted Fender Rhodes fed through a myriad of pedals and a Korg mini synth. Although the set was quite short, it definitely was pretty great. They’ll be a really good band if they keep it up. I shall post a link to audio when the concert goes live on NPR Music.
Spent most of this weekend out of town and in airports and hotel rooms. But I did have a chance to mix a bit during that time and spent most of today recording. Here is the progress report:
Half Awake (v4a) — Finally tracked verses two and three… not sure about a few lines here and there and might retrack if there’s time… But otherwise, I’m calling this one relatively done: Warts and all, it’s as good as it’s likely gonna get.
Why The Oceans Matter (v3d) — Here’s a song Aryn wrote and bumped over to me to start mixing and adding a few things on my own. Not quite there yet, but it’s different and has lots of potential. He has a few more in the works but I’ll let Aryn chime in here later about this if he so desires.
“Why The Oceans Matter” v3d by Aryn Crowley (MK Mix)
Slack Stringed (v3a) — Another shelved and long forgotten song, now refreshed and reworked in honor of RPM. Aryn added some drums to this and will add a bit more sooner than later. I am also planning on refining my lyrics for this (half written, still untracked) so stay tuned…
In the last week I’ve refreshed some interest in a few song ideas I had either started and aborted or just had rattling around but never committed to working on. Here is a progress report on what I’ve got so far:
This Is A Fire (v2d) — This song still needs major refinement of lyrics and better melodies, but I think I like where it’s vaguely pointing to: simple electronic background music and sequenced drums and not much else.
Yellow Matter (v3a) — Sunday night I did write some lyrics for this song and track an attempt at a melody and vocal harmonies here, but really found it loathsome to listen to after the fact. So back to the drawing board, yet with some lessons learned and ideas on how to fix later on. Otherwise I really like the music to this, with an amazing assist on the great cello arrangements by my friend and fellow NPR type, Thomas Pierce.
Half Awake (v3b) — This is a song that I started a couple days before February but including here still. Not much progress here in terms of those elusive 2nd and 3rd verses. But its getting there and ready to move on once those are tracked.
White Walls v2a — Here is an instrumental thing I started on that basically repeats over and over again, but could be fodder for some lyrics. Now with drums by Aryn.
1) Become exciting young musician or band well ahead of your time and release a promising debut record everyone loves.
2) Beat the hype: The next string of 2-3 albums should be better than the first; Critics and fans alike will deem classic, but your artistic success is largely ignored by mainstream.
3) Release a succession of albums to diminishing returns that lower the bar each time out. This music will always be compared to your early work.
4) Bottom out with an ill-conceived stinker intended to grab the mainstream’s attention; have everyone write you off as a has-been, sell out or out of touch.
5) After a few years of exile, make a safe and mostly enjoyable album that hardly captures the spirit of original artistic peak, but sturdy enough to not be terrible. These usually include duets or collaborations with newer artists or a top line producer to ensure relevancy to younger generation. People will consider this a genuine comeback and award your return with the Grammy award you deserved the first time around when the voters snubbed you.
Steve Martin’s recent hosting on Saturday Night Live this past Saturday was had many strong bright spots: he was part of quite a few great sketches including a new installment of Laser Cats, and this piece below — a spoof of NFL Films documentaries.
This is one of the more original and hilariously brilliant SNL pieces I’ve seen in quite awhile. So great.
