More Songs Will Be Posted Tomorrow.

No, You're drunk!

Brand new colony - LIB

Latest Spokesmen cover song challenge. This one's from left inside breaks. Click on link below or lefthand sidebar. Also check out Edmund Bedford's cover (no artwork just yet), it's choice. We'll post more from the rest of the spokey's when they're available.

I've always liked the main part of this Postal Service song and kind of been bored by the end of it. In my first pass I cut the ending, but subsequently brought it back after hearing Donut's version. There seems to be some value in keeping the basic road map of the song. Unless you're sideburns and you do a fabulous job changing up the whole thing. Hopefully if you listen hard enough you'll here some shoegazer, swamp-abilly sampled drums, sinister vocals, and very special fuzz -tremelo-noise pedals from Donut Industrires (see previous pedal review postings).

Best of 2008! Bill Doug Brian Commentary

Finally the best music of the year....2008 that is. Better late than never!
Just click the play button next to the title.

This an audio recording of Sideburns, Anderssert, and special guest Doug D. as we reflect and bash on the music of 2008. I've had this sitting on mini-disc for a long time and finally downloaded and edited it. My intent is to do this every year, but I utterly failed to get it out in a timely manner this year. Apologies.

Spokesmen Are Streaming!

Check out the new music player on the lefthand sidebar widget thingy! Just click a song and play. I only posted what I had. Please post the rest of your stuff in the dropbox and I'll get it going. I know there's also a way to associate images as well but this is all I could wrap my brain around for the time being. Maybe Donut can take it from here...

Let me know if it works for you!

Also, do we want to post songs from the latest go-around or wait till the official listening party?

Gateway to west sac

Check out the newly refurbished bike path bridge across I-5. Used to be a train bridge I believe.

Rider Profile - Side Burns

The man and the machine. Here's a few shots. I'll let Brian describe his own bike. I was fortunate enough to be there when he first picked up from Mission Bicycle and even got to see the color rendering beforehand.

User Review: The Bass Fuzz Pedal

User Review – Bass Fuzz Pedal

Donut Industries has again generously offered me the use of a prototype pedal for select spokesmen tracks. This pedal is straight up distortion under the heavy influence of fuzz. The controls are Fuzz, Gate, EQ, and Level. When fully cranked the fuzz made me feel a little nervous, like standing too close to a large electrical sub-station. It’s a much more satisfactory sound for a bass than typical distortion if you want a nice synthetic sound that’s distinguishable through the mix. After experimenting with some recorded tracks I was pleasantly surprised to hear some uncompromised round bass tones still present without post processing the EQ. The level output offers enough buzz to rattle your teeth if necessary and EQ is straightforward enough. The mystery knob for me on this pedal was Gate. From my understanding this is acting in part as a limiter for the distortion. But it also will mute any sounds that drop below a certain level when fully open. I’ve heard this is awesome for funk…but it might not be where I’m at with post-punk-surf tendencies. If you aren’t playing full throttle all the time you get a little bit clipped off your notes. There was no problem tweaking the gate to achieve my goals, but I think it will warrant my further experimentation. As far as packaging, there was some modest apologies given as to the labeling and knobs attached. However, aside from the first pass label-maker text (I liked the font and layout) I thought the design was superb especially the huge knob for fuzz, ‘cause that’s what we came for!

Lennon – Solid fuzz without losing all resemblance to bass. Great output…good possibilities for regular guitar as well. Incredibly bright violet LED!

Ono-Gate control takes some getting used to and could be more of niche style playing with the clipped attack.

User Review: The Oscillation Overthruster - a Prototype

At first glance this pedal appears to be a stage prop from a 1950’s sci-fi movie. Just picture some nerdy college geeks hunched over some boxy equipment with knobs and an oscilloscope as they try to repel the monster which is smashing through Philadelphia and the National Guard by emanating a sonic onslaught through standard hi-fi speakers. This is that box…with a delightful glitter blue paintjob. There are so many knobs and possibilities I feel initial guilt about messing up someone’s lab experiment if I touch anything. But how can anyone resist tweaking? I couldn’t. There are 7 different controls not including on and off: Ramp, Gain, Speed, Fine, Smooth, Depth, and Space. Seriously…haven’t we all been on the lookout for some means of controlling Depth and Space? From a user stand-point, all these knobs control pretty much what you’d expect.

The control over the output is exceptional and I was not overwhelmed at all by the amount tweaking required to find my sound. By comparison, my BOSS TR-2 tremolo pedal has the standard Rate, Depth , and Wave control and works great…But it will be hard to go back after the fine tuning I was able to control on the Oscillation Overthruster. And my favorite feature on this pedal = gain! Where the Boss pedal usual steps down the output, the O-O makes it all crazy. Another thing that makes you feel like ground control for Mercury era NASA is the super bright LED which matches the speed and intensity of the signal you select. For now, this pedal is clearly a prototype. And the manufacturer makes no claims to its future production model specs. However I will have a hard time “remembering” to return it.

Bonnie = Killer control and over-the-top output will make you sound like Dwayne Eddie played by Joey Santiago.
Clyde = I’m not seeing this pedal anywhere in stores or on-line. Not sure what “Ramp” is doing for me.

Everybody's Cycling Stockton!

Workin' a decent route for the waterfront in lovely downtown Stockton. Who's game?

That's Right, Gents.

You are now in control.

Zeroooooooo

Styx "Best of Times" = Barry Manilow meets Eagles

Labor Day Ride

Spokesmen (minus one founding father Donut), with special guest and tour guide, Mr. Wes Steed, took a ride around Midtown and East Sac in the AM hours on Monday, holiday. The ride culminated in a stop at the fine Tupelo to stay hydrated. Or does coffee de-hydrate? So in total we rode something like 94 miles (with a missing decimal point in there somewhere). My chain fell off once, but no other hazards to speak of, unless one speaks of insects flying into eyes.

Tin Toy debut readied

Done

Best of Times**

We just got back from our latest ride and had a great opportunity to MEET and GREET with Dennis DeYoung from STYX!! Can you believe it?

The band is currently on tour and playing nightly at the California State Fair. Of course, we all gathered up the wives and rocked hard to a sampling of all of their greatest jams the opening night of the fair. What made this even better was that Brian had won backstage passes for all of us to meet the band from a contest put on by 96.9 The Eagle. Thanks Eagle! We couldn't help but mention our fun loving bike club to the guys and we were so surprised to find out that Dennis DeYoung is an avid rider, too! He thought it might be a great way to pass the time during his stay in Sacramento and joined us on a 10 mile loop of the American River Bike Trail and followed the amazing ride up with some great food at Adalbertos. We even brought along an extra club uniform for Dennis to wear and had somebody take our picture. We couldn't wait to share it with all of our readers and fans alike. Thank you Dennis for taking us on the ride of our lives. It truly was The Best of Times!

Above Photo (from Left to Right): Bill, Matt, Brian, Dennis DeYoung, and Jason.


Your song selection for coversong #5 is The Postal Service "Brooklyn Blues."

** The following events were just what Brian told me. Don't blame me if they actually didn't take place.

whammy

How about some shots of the gear: Guitars, amps, pedals, percussion what have you? Here's a shot of the Jaguar I have on long term loan and the infamous tremelo. I was just reading Brian's MBV propoganda booklet (33 1/3) about Kevin Shields claiming his sound is all about the tremelo.

fixie back from the shop

Picked up the bike tonight. Looks good and rides nice. It will take awhile getting used to fixed gear. I scraped the toe basket when making a really tight turn, and I never realized how much I rely on freewheel on a regular bike. I think I'm gonna let the paint set up a little more before throwing it on the bus.

The squirrels in Land Park say

Future Spokes(wo)men

Took my 4 year old girl, Ethne, to the park today to "ride bikes" for the first time. We have a sweet hand-me-down bike from a co-worker with training wheels and we cruised the sidewalks for a good 1/2 hour. At first she had trouble with the coaster-break concept...and watching the road instead of her feet. After she got the hang of it she had a blast and pretty soon I was almost jogging to keep up with her. She had a couple slow-motion spills onto the grass but she got right back on.

I don't remember training wheels really. I think I went straight from a big wheel to standard bike. But it was cool to see her digging it.

No actual photos of the occasion, just this picture of Ethne's dream bike. The Hello Kitty Mach III.

Spokesmen vs. Watchmen

Burns double dog dared any of us to watch the Watchmen and actually like it. Sorry, but I saw it last night and enjoyed it. Give it a 8 out 10, very entertaining. Only thing I didn't care for was the set design for the "fortress of solitude" face off at the end. Favorite character was Rorschach... "you don't get it do you? I'm not locked up with all of you, you're all locked up in here with Me!"

Fight Nerds

• The first rule of Fight Nerds is that you can sometimes talk about Fight Nerds
• The second rule of Fight Nerds is that you only fight on even years

Please feel free to refresh us on the rest of the rules...

watership down on the water

watch

'on the water'

walkmen video

and weep

Notice:

Temple does not have food.

Fixify

I'm upgrading the free bike I've been commuting on to fixie. A friend of mine told me about a cool bike shop in Stockton where they customize fixies and cruisers on the cheap called Port City Cyclery. I checked em out last week and they seemed pretty down to earth, thought the bike was a decent candidate (old Raleigh). So I left my bike there and in a week or so I should have a new wheel set, cog, and paintjob. Apparently my cranks are short enough so I'm good there. They didn't try to sell me anything except for the bare minimum I would need to change it fixed gear. The front gears are bolt together so they're just going to take off the small ring. Brakes will stay too. Color will be a gray green with white forks.

I'll start out fixed and see how I like it. The wheel is fixed-free changeable but I haven't bought the freewheel cog yet.

Now I just need some man-capri's and loafers.

!esreveR

Bill,

This is the pedal I was telling you about with the reverse reverb function.

Bring me the wah of Bill Anders!

Bill, this is your reminder to bring your pedal to work.
I believe I will be receiving a shipment tomorrow with the correct item.

L.I.B. - Dreams Never End

Hot new offerings from Left Inside Breaks for Spokesman IV!
Click on the image for the download:



Matt just showed me how to hook up this link on the blog: 1 hour into it and I'm still mildly entertained.

I went into this song thinking I would take a different course than the last few covers and maybe change themes...maybe something clean and simple. That turned out to be harder than I thought. So I compromised and used no reverb...at least at first, and a simple drum machine loop (more bossa nova than pop unfortunately).

The concept was to make the vocals stand out but keep lyrics somewhat unrecognizable. And I've been wanting to try to hook the mic up to a delay guitar pedal and see if I could sound like Lux Interior from the Cramps. For the guitars, I was heavily influenced by a mix CD that burns gave me and a band called "the grass widow" and their straightforward driving style. The bass was going to carry the melody between verses so I cranked it higher than usual. Turns out I distorted it unintentionally, which was better than what I had planned i think. The squeaky guitar peeps in-between are a half-baked idea that might've improved with a few more tries, but that's all the time I had. All in all it still seems to count as a left inside breaks song.


The image is my pop's el camino. No real backstory there.

Sorry ladies, he's off the market.

Dreams Never Get Finished

Here's my submittal for Spokesmen Cover Song IV: Dreams Never End (original by New Order).

We got together at Bill's place this evening for a listening party, which only halfway materialized. However, the food, beverages, and company more than made up for the dearth of completed covers. Many thanks to Bill and Joanne, Ethne and Sophie for their hospitality!

Doctored photos of the event may be posted at a later date, once we have songs from Brian and Jason.

Anyhow, click the cover art for the download, and read below if you want an entirely uninteresting description of process, etc.



The band name "Freedom Club" derives from the cover picture, which I found linked on a design blog I frequent. So far the only person to correctly identify the (in)famous structure in the picture without prompting is Wes.

This was probably my sixth or seventh attempt at figuring out just what the hell to do to cover the song. If you're familiar with the original, it is almost two songs in one; a super long intro that eventually segues into the main verse/chorus part. Every time I had something in mind for the intro, I would get stumped at how to make the transition and eventually complete the second. There are some real mutants on the computer here, versions with everything played backwards and then reversed, really speedy Unrest-y versions, an intro that sounds like a (hamfisted) outtake from Long Division, and more, which will be seeing the business end of a delete key when I start running out of drive space.

A simple, slow approach ended up working best for this one, and I severely reduced the instrumentation from what I had originally intended. The main thing you hear throughout is easily one of my favorite instruments, and best thrift store scores: the Wurlitzer Electric Piano (Model 200; shown here with the cover off so I could clean it up a bit).



Found this thing at Funky Furnishings when it was still on Broadway for an insanely low price. One of these days I'm going to rig up a sustain pedal out of old hi-hat pieces. It has been on pretty much every piece of vinyl put out by that other band I play with, and when we had to downsize practice spaces, the Wurli came home with me. The electronics are really crackly, and so it took a good deal of judicious editing to get a track that wasn't static laden. You can still hear a few pops in the song that just couldn't be removed.

The bridge and then the balance of the song is a single track of guitar, and there's a bass that plays not one, but TWO notes. The over-reverbed tambourine was supposed to serve as the base for more percussion to come, but I ended up not wanting to busy the song up too much. And that's pretty much all that is one there. Thank god Hooky only sings about 3 notes in this song, so I didn't have to do 12 vocal tracks to mask my deficiency in that department.

OK, this is a boring read.
Off to my beverage!

Fashion

I wore cropped pants to work with dress shoes and no socks. You can't get away with doing anything fashion forward at work without getting sly remarks so here is a short lesson in fashion.

Counts Updated

For your records:

• 1 more free coffee for Bill.
• 1 flat tire for Matt.

Please to be noting:

• Updated counts will now be kept in the left hand portion of the page.
  

Because Virtually Nobody Was Asking For It.

Spokesmen III: Primary (the Cure)

Click on the cover to download an mp3 (or in Jason's case an m4a) of the track.
In order, they are by:

1. Read My bBook - AKA Toast - AKA Brian
2. (Unknown) - AKA Cheese - AKA Jason
3. LeftInsideBreaks - AKA Soup - AKA Bill
4. Iron Brotherhood - AKA Donut - AKA Matt
   

Post an angry comment when it inevitably fails to work.

This blog is running dry

Bunch of fruits...

Creative forces

Burnt Toast, the man behind the TinToy.
Here is a guy who's clearly not afraid to take
risks...Unless they violate jobsite protocall or
Cal-OSHA safety standards.

Tin Toy Tin Toy Tin Toy Tin Toy Tin Toy

Well, Burnt Toast wasn't so keen on falling back on Read My Bbook time after time. It's just sloppy. No excuse. So after 15 seconds of consideration, and with no reason at all, my new """""band""""" name is Tin Toy. I mean, drum roll please............................ Tin Toy!!!

Testing for Audio...

OK..
I think I figured it out.
Click on the cover to (attempt to) download the Iron Brotherhood mp3 of Primary.



Or maybe its just an excuse to post my picture again?

HEY GUYS, LOOK AT ME!!!