Master Blaster

On occasion I do audio mastering for various bands that I like. They usually pay me in Pogs or Monster in My Pocket figures. Anyway, I've had the extreme good fortune of working with two such projects recently, which happen to create music of the highest artistic magnitude in all of western MA. IMHO. Let me demonstrate my arrogance by telling you what they sound like to me.


HOUSE OF TEETH: "Sweet-tooth Segue to Stormy Weather" - I mastered two full lengths from this dude - Jacob Gaulin (Cora's bro!). The first was a fortress of sound, fortified with Bowie-esque about-faces and strangely melodic noise. And this was the second, given to me on Thanksgiving to master. I didn't get around to it until February. I had it in my car literally all winter and listened to it once a day at least. I couldn't part with it. Totally made me feel stupid and devoid of anything resembling talent. Made with shitty Garageband synth-plug-ins and some drum triggers... I haven't the foggiest idea how Jake squeezed out the gorgeous, falsetto-peppered, buzzing squalor of psych-hop, synth-pop therein. Lovely discordance.



LOLFM: "We Are It's Waves" - A local electro "supergroup" of sorts, featuring Eric Hnatow, Noam Schatz (Mobius Band, 3rdness), and an elusive dude I know only as "Aaron". 45+ minutes of 8-bit transcendental meditation Kraut-scapes, created with broken toys circuit-bent beyond recognition, an armada of Casio MTs, an iPod, and Hnatow's corrosive electribe synths. The only happenin' electronic music around here as far as I'm concerned. I would love to do a split with these guys some day.

Check these out. Don't let me down. More importantly, don't let yourself down.

~Adam

There is No Cure for Epilepsy

But there is a cure for the blues! And that cure is watching Cora maniacally spiral into an epileptic fit while we went to go see Xiu Xiu and white Rastafarian badasses (apparently they do exist?) Tune Yards last night.

The center of movement to this video is she. A blur of Jew hair swaddled in an entire thrift store.



Swell video courtesy of swell guy Ted Lee of swell band ZEBU.

The Trials of Gary: Trial #1

Scott Alden. Some of you know that name, some of you do not. More accurately, some of you may THINK you know that name. But are you absolutely certain that you know the REAL Scott Alden?

Northampton-based renaissance man Scott Alden - comic artist, lead croon-factory of TASHA YAR and LEVELETTE, and sole proprietor of the continuing propagation of cleverly themed shows in Northampton (the VS. series among others) - has a new project called THE TRIALS OF GARY. The Trials of Gary is a weekly web comic that follows the adventures of a young wizard at a pivotal point in his training. Sounds dull and derivative, I know. But the execution is bloody brilliant and addictive. For the cost of a slice of pizza you can sign up for the comic here.

Anyway, this Sunday, Scott has enlisted Sylphid, Rabbit Rabbit, Friends of Yours, and Dust Savior to provide aural stimulation during Gary's first live trial, at The Elevens in Northampton, MA. I cannot explain this extravaganza in my own words, so I'll let Scott take over from this point forward:

-On Saturday 2/27 at 11:59 PM, I begin. As Gary enters the bloody and lawless kingdom of Boldwall to collect one dollar from each year of King Marel Yath's reign without the use of his magics, I will enter the Dunkin Donuts on King Street armed with colored pencils and fierce determination.

-I will have until 11:59 PM on Sunday 2/28 to create one dollar from each year of Marel Yath's reign. The currency will be rendered in color on both sides.

-At 9pm on Sunday 2/28 I will be seated by the stage at the Elevens on Pleasant Street in Northampton, MA and will have three hours to finish whatever dollars remain.

-I will be inspired to glory by the sounds of Dust Savior, Sylphid, Friends of Yours and Rabbit Rabbit.

-The dollars will be for sale at the event for ONE DOLLAR each. Don't worry, each dollar will be photographed before it is sold.

-Subscribers to The Trials of Gary get into the event for free, but you must RSVP to me by email if you're coming, so I can put you on the list.

-Non-members will pay a five dollar cover charge for which they also receive a trial subscription to the series.

-Should the unthinkable happen and I fail this challenge, Gary also fails at his and the repercussions will change the storyline completely. So, wish me luck because if he doesn't get across the Moody River, I haven't a clue where to go from there.

If that isn't rad enough, Andy (you know... from Ponds, Graph, Twenty-three, Sisters and Brothers, Belltone Suicide, Metallica) will be sitting in on the Sylphid set with us. In other words, just fucking go. This shit is going to be belligerent and I fear for the families and all-around well-being of anyone not in attendance.

~Adam

Staticker

I am at work. I am unbelievably, and unintentionally high right now. What have I done? I don't remember.

Shit.

Mmmmrph mmmm Hrmmm

It is with a heart clogged full of joy that I present to you Sylphid's first video... sort of. Cora made this video for school a couple months ago, and set it to the Sylphid piece "B.07.10.09". I assisted with my svelte, sleek, sexiness. Like a tar baby writhing in a patch of brambly sex dragons.

I bring you "Zenshin Taitsu".


Oh, also... this: Sylphid has this new mailing list thing. I know what you're thinking. "Big fucking yank. One more newsletter that I'll get every other week wedged between the South Beach diet recipes and MoveOn.org petitions. What is it 2001 again? Since when do bands even bother with newsletters anymore?"

Well...

This isn't your garden variety, "here are some shows we're playing 126 miles away from you" mailing list. I like to think of it more as an exclusive club where the members get free shit for being totally dope. In fact, anyone who signs up gets an unreleased track speared through their inbox the same day. In addition, we're working on two new releases. Our first *actual* releases to be distributed by *actual* labels. Several dozen tracks are being recorded, and only a mittful will be released. The rest? Oh you know... WE'LL SEND YOU ONE ON THE FIRST DAY OF EVERY MONTH. Free buttons, stickers, magnets, etc. will also be involved. And the prerequisite newsletter? We'll send an extra special one, rife with perspiration-inspiring secrets each month. One. That's it. Promise.

Anyway, if loads of awesome, free, material is your stripe then click on the link below. All others need not apply.



pozegnanie,

~Adam

A 15-headed Hydra Breathing All Over You

I'm at work right now fooling employees I preside over into thinking that I'm laboring over their well-being and meticulously scheming to improve their work performance. In actuality I'm typing this up and ignoring them. That's not the point though. The point is that I'm at my day job while I'm supposed to be 1 of 15 people belting out the lyrics to ambiguous protest songs at Bank Row Studios right now.

Yes. As I type this, The Trials and Tribulations is in the studio (sans me) torturing Justin Pizzoferato (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth) with it's folk-sludge mash of 5409 individuals all braying in cacophonous unison. I'll be joining them tomorrow to lay down some synth squiggles and crunchy organ drones on "Quebec", an evil, swampy rendition of "You are my Sunshine", and the epic and absolutely fucking crushing "President Arbenz' Last Smile". Now I've had my doubts about T&T before. I'll be the first to admit that it can be a chaotic mess. In a bad way. But after the recording rehearsal last weekend, all of those doubts were shattered like the dreams of a pregnant teenager. Mark my words: this will be far more monstrous than even I anticipated.

Completely unrelated: Just a reminder for some shows coming up...

SYLPHID
playing Sat. Feb 6 @ The Yellow Sofa (24 Main St. Northampton, MA)
all ages
free
starts at 8pm

PONDS
playing Sat. Feb 20 @ The Brass Cat (65 Cottage St. Easthampton, MA)
with
BLACK PYRAMID
BLUE STAR BURNS RED
21+
$5?
starts at around 8:30

SYLPHID
playing Feb 28 @ The Elevens (140 Pleasant St. Northampton, MA)
providing the soundtrack to Scott Alden's TRIALS OF GARY
MORE INFO TO COME!!!
21+
9pm

We're back, we're bad, you're black, I'm mad.

Apropos to reference the Danny Glover swansong Lethal Weapon 2 in this post title. Apropos because Sylphid is back, not only with teeth, but with a badassed, off-the-rails partner in plugging South African diplomats with hollow-tipped bullets. That's right - our very own PA system. You can call him Riggs.

Eon, Cora, and I congregated like cows huddled for warmth during a nor'easter yesterday and squeezed out an effluvium of pretty sounds for the first time since early October. We tested out our new PA system. Sounds totally dope. This year, we will test out our new live format. Anonymous background music.

We're now officially in the process of offering our minds and bodies (and the products thereof)to anyone who seeks slightly noisy, oft-unpredictable, textural drones and lullabies for their listening needs. Restaurants, parties in opium dens, art galleries, lonely insomniacs et al: we are here to offer you a delta-wave stimulating, narcosis electronic-helping hand.

Sorry Madame Rock Clubs. You were our first love. Freaking out onstage, drawing blood, and generally making a spectacle of yourself is fun... unless you're making ambient music. We do not write songs. Our music is bereft of a tangible personality. To showcase our ugly mugs bobbing several feet above a confused and underwhelmed crowd, conditioned to devote it's attention to us, makes very little sense to me. It's time for us to move on and find slightly less spotlight-driven venues. The less of a stage there is the better. We will however be providing background music and drones wherever it's wanted or needed.

One of the first of these performances will be this Thursday night at Sam's Pizza on Main Street in Northampton, MA. We'll be playing roughly 3 hours (6:30-9:30) of moody blip-bleeps. It's also free. We're being paid in pizza. And holy god of fleeting joy, Sam's pizza just so happens to be the best in town.

Other shows coming up:

-Sat. Jan. 23 Don't Go In the Basement house show @ 4 Caterbury Lane in Amherst. PONDS will also be rocking the show for the first time in awhile. Also appearing are Hornworm, Abortus Fever, Belltone Suicide, Two Tents, and the lascivious Gastric Lavage. Fuck. Go to this. Hornworm's dream machine will be in full effect.

-Sun. Jan 31 @ The Elevens. This is the Happy Valley Showdown. Sylphid will be appearing alongside Visited By A Giant, Johhny Mondegreen, Golden Boys, Almost Morse Code, and Tasha Yar. Come watch us play an ill-fitting show judged by folks who will sneer at our absence of onstage banter. Shit starts at 10pm and should be a party.

long-winded indeed

love,

Adam and Riggs