So here we have it, the official Umlaut blog! We're only doing this to be cool, up to date and accepted by all you young over confident generation Y'z asses and to be scrutinized and whined at by you slowly going out of date gen Xers. This isn't Bar, we are still working on getting him to type more than one sentence at a time on official channels but you know work and life means not much time for typing trivial things such as this so you have me Shane Lieber(supposed prank monkey when in fact I'm more the official chaffuer/P.A....) typing things at you. Hopefully over time we can get Angus, Olaf, Jeremy and all the other G's blogging like there is no tomorrow.
We have an album in the can which marks the first official solo release from Bar so start pumping yo fists in the air. It seems that said album has been pushed back to a Feb 2009 release so for now you can read this making of and imagine what you are hearing and hopefully we can post something involving audio on myspace soon to whet your appetite for destruction. So if you have some time to kill get a coffee, some high grade nose candy, open redtube in another window and read on....
KITTY PUPPY
The last thing written for the album and the first thing on it. I remember the day we were going to first practice this I sat with the demo and figured out the majority of the chords out on guitar which when we arrived at practice none of that hard work was used and i was handed harp parts to play on keyboards and I'm not the quickest reader. This song really got up and running that night in the lounge room of Mr. Olaf with a band arrangement utilising all the Dynamics we could offer. Kingy and Jules slayed the rhythm parts in ze studio within 3 takes. Natalie provided Vibes since Jeremy was unfortunately away in Bali and personally I wish Mr.Dullard did play on this thing. Olaf smashed down some keys and also smashed me at pool. Angus and I did the majority of the guitar together in lock step, a section unfortunately went missing which Angus managed to approximate again and also provided a lot of George Benson. One of our guitar sections was replaced with what sounds like a melodic truck/whip crack (no seriously...) Bar would still be in there right now messing with the amount of reverb on his flute and changing synth voices and like the man said himself "If it ain't got reverb, it ain't worth shit". Its a highlight on an album full of them....
SOUNDS LIKE - Chamber pop? or just Efing AWESOME DOODers!
ATLAS FACE
This one started in Castlemaine in the Mark Turner era recorded by Mr. Justin Marshall at his home studio. Mark plays some slaying guitar and ukulele (did i spell that right? who cares fuck the grammar nazis). The track was then sent by Bar over to Mike Patton....................a lot of waiting was done until one day I found myself in the lounge of the Bar listening to a mix of it while he was sorting a sink of dirty dishes (He preaches the TRUTH). Sounded very cool and was kept under wraps until in the studio Bar, Angus and I added some percussion and hand claps. We convinced Bar to not change the Sax solo which is groovy. A small hiccup happened when we didn't have the right plug ins to mix Pattons vocal so we approximated his reverbs and settings and ended up bringing out some awesome doo wop backing vocals that were on the track and not heard as well on the original mix and in my opinion made it sound better. The vocals without any plugs continuously clipped on the desk, Dude sure has a BIG voice. Although if Angus was Exec P a certain "life" wouldn't be in existence
SOUNDS LIKE - What you dream about at night aka this could have been on that album with the white cover...ya know THAT one?
THE MISTAKEN POWER
Another ditty that started up in Castlemaine, every time I hear the percussion section in the middle played by Matt, Bar and Justin it reminds me of the stabbing gut pains I had due to a horrible bout of food poisoning. Laying on the studio floor wincing.....good times! This is the haunted house pirate jazz christmas carol number that all the hot albums carry. It also features the world premiere of Bar on door and myself on plastic bags, drown it in reverb and delay and you got a stew going baby. Angus would like to find to the delete button on a certain vocal and maybe one day he will. The Korg Triton work station was the indispensable tool on this whole album.
SOUNDS LIKE - haunted house pirate jazz christmas carol with severe gastronomic distress
DIRTY DISHES
Bar is a private dude and he chose this moment to air out his dirty laundry involving all things sink related. Some of you may be familiar with the demo version of this that has been floating around the Internet so we went into the studio and recorded the stadium rock version. We want to see you pumping your fists in the air screaming "come on you know better than that". Kingy and Jules yet again owned the rhythm section while Angus and I drone away on our respective axes. Bar put some really nice sparkle on the chorus and Angus capped it off by bringing an awesome vocal harmony for the chorus which elevated the tune, you can also hear all of us doing the demented muppet choir during the verse. Also contains some tasty Sax work with a nice campfire ending for the heart warming effect
SOUNDS LIKE - Rock Pop Rattle Stop Drop and Roll
LIVING THE DREAM
Remember when the Sega Mega Drive was the SHIT? Spending hours getting carpal tunnel syndrome making a blue hedgehog fly around loops collecting rings and battling an evil mad scientist with a penchant for taking small animals and putting them inside robots and lets not forget Mortal Kombat with enough gore and decapitation to keep any tweenager happy for hours on end. Bar plays a 16bit sounding melody on the chorus of this song which somehow magically teleports me Raiden style back to that point in time. I like it that much that when the time comes to play it live i will probably weep when it is played
SOUNDS LIKE - I could be full of shit
BIGFOOT IS REAL
Another one started in Castlemaine, Kingy puts the octapad to use with some more tasty Turner & Langdon chops on the bbq. Bar plays some sweet flutes and keys. The METAL intro was something added during the An Easier Question/Turner/McKindawg period. I tracked some noisy ass guitars in castlemaine which I thought sounded bitchin' although the signal wasn't up to scratch for some peoples ears and I re-tracked it. The original guitars sounded so much better but hindsight is as always a wonderful thing.
SOUNDS LIKE - Angus riding a camel through the pseudo desert
WORK TRUCK
An ode to Bars days driving a shrimp truck in and around San Fran. I got a phone call from Jeff my brother claiming that the violent fems had actually ripped this riff off Bar on the way home from rehearsal the other day....Bar is considering legal action. Jeff actually is responsible for a small part of a guitar melody in this song....he likes credits. Bar and Angus jam on the vocals, I flayed down some angular lead which i would or should have deleted and some funky ass clav. Another example of lets not only throw the kitchen sink at it but also the majority of things found in the yard....washing lines etc
SOUNDS LIKE - you are really bored if you are still reading this
THE HORRIBLE THINGS WE SAY
Lets also not forget the horrible food we ate, Hungry Jacks, Pizza, Fish And Chips....Highlights include Angus doing Bjork impersonations every time the synth bass I did drops. Kingy delivers some tasty 7/8 over this festive tune with some quasi metal elements and another tear ass sax solo. I'm really very tired and I could be at the beach you know
SOUNDS LIKE - Bjork shooting drugs with Ennio Morricone
CHILL PILL
Angus - I'm not sure if thats working Bar uhhh.
Bar - what? what do you mean (tries vocal)
Angus - maybe try it like this (gives demo from keyboard into vocal booth)
Bar - (attempts vocal)
Bar - Fuck FUCK
Angus - Just try it!
Bar - Jesus fucking christ is it that hard?
Angus - what about parallel 4ths? Try parallel 4ths
Bar - FUCK YOUR PARALLEL 4ths i'll just DO IT HOW I WAS DOING IT
Angus - Jesus christ I was just saying................
SOUNDS LIKE - The shocking diva moment on the album......really cool track though
BUTTONS
Bar had a track called "Buttons on the shirt", i really dug the chords and the melody line so I persuaded him to hand it over to me and my other band mate Scott Kokenberg. We recorded Bar at my house using Scotties trusty space station and we both came up with an arrangement which we tossed back and forth until all was settled. Got Mr. Matt Lieber my brother to come in and lay down some metal drumming while Scott handled the glitch outs. Things got re-pitched glitched and smashed around and Scott and I had a hell of a time doing it so much that room mates and parents were agitated by the noise we were making. Although Matts drums are mixed way too low during the chaos and too high during the end. Scott and I are still not happy with the final mix but then again I don't we ever would be.
SOUNDS LIKE - What happens when you let idiots loose on your material (thanks bar!)
DAIN BRAMAGE
The problem child of the audiophile world. Recorded in castlemaine with Matt on drums again with an arrangement that happened during the AEQ/Turner/Barister days. One of my favourites on the album which unfortunately wasn't tracked as hi-fi as could of been which is a small drag but who cares i still think it sounds cool. We probably played the intro too fast but Bar wanted it like that so blame him. Comes complete with the Curb Your Enthusiasm ending with Mr. Angus E. Leslie smashing it out on the banjo
SOUNDS LIKE - we are done here
So thats my recollection of what went down
stay tuned for the blog that refutes all these claims
coming soon!
