Split CD and other things.

Remember a while ago we talked about this split tape I made with Jon from the Moon.
Remember? There was like pictures of cassettes and stuff?

Well, anyway, we're re-doing that but doing it different from the first time.
For starters both sides of the tape are getting remixed and some things re-recorded. Jon's side will be getting a bit more done than mine, but I still plan on fixing up the Matilda tracks quite a bit.
Probably new guitar tracks, definitely new bass tracks, maybe new vocals, and maybe stretching out the opening instrumental.
We're also taking the cover songs out of the mix and writing a brand new two part song to bridge the two sides together as one.

And one big difference, this split tape will be a split CD. So no more dusting off that old tape deck to Matilda and the moon make love and break up.

More info coming soon, but I'm needed in the basement now for tracking!

Here's some pictures on Jon doing a guitar track, and drinking coffee with a guitar on.

The big pictures...

This is my "say skinny jeans," cheese face.

Me and Jon played a impromptu weirdo open mic show at AJ's cafe in Ferndale on Monday evening as Songs from the moon. When we walked off stage we had played for about a half hour to a crowd of 4-6 people. Maybe 2 people were listening to us [Thanks Julie!]. We decided to dress in white shirts and black ties to be smooth open mic criminals. So the above photo was taken after our set. And the below photo was also taken that evening, but also includes my partner in cafe house crime, Jon B.



All in all, it was fun but a little disappointing that the cafe was so empty. I'm not sure if it's the weather, or maybe just the state of the economy, but I remember in years past open mic nights usually would bring in at least 10 people who weren't performing. Especially on a Monday when not a lot else is going on. Drifters walking by, stopping in to see the folk on stage pouring their heart out for an audience of strangers.

Oh well.

In Matilda news:

The new album is going along alright.
I've taken a little break from actually recording to re-write a few things, and "perfect the beat" if you will, before I put music to tape. I'm basically practicing the songs I have finished. Messing around with melody, writing little piano trills or the like in my head. Finding good harmonies.

I have Thursday off, and I plan on knocking out some drum tracks during the day. I was thinking I'd record multiple songs at the same time, instead of the usual "work on this one song over and over until it's done" mentality. So Thursday I'll do drums and scratch tracks for a couple of new songs and that way I have a base, or a foundation for the songs so when the inspiration hits me for a specific song, I can work on that.

Also:

In the spirit of the last minute open mic, I think I'm going to do a few Matilda open mic nights in the near future. If/when this happens, I'll post it here.

Good evening to ya'll.

Good night.

Ladies and Gents... Morris Leifer: Producer (among other things)

I've been hard at work with all sorts of odds and ends.
Some seem promising, some are silly, and some are just odds and/or ends.

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First off.
Dr. Morris Leifer, [aka Shaun Wisniewski] is putting together an instrumental weirdo-rap/electronic album. I've been making drum beats when I'm bored on computer programs for years now... since before I started the Matilda project in 2003, in fact. So I guess this album has been on my mind for quite some time.
Don't get excited.
Just because I've been making rap beats and electronic music for years doesn't mean I'm good at it. I just like to make it. And in all honesty, it's hard for me to judge it considering I have to hear every little part of each song over and over and over again while I'm making it.
It's like, when you say a word multiple times in a row, it ends up losing meaning [marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow,  marrow]
Same idea goes for the strange rap-esque songs.
Anyways.
I made a Bandcamp for the songs.
The album is going to be called Romance Novels.
Type in the below letters and symbols [minus the brackets] to a URL area to hear the music.
[ http://drmorrisleifer.bandcamp.com/ ]
Or click on this text.

This is what the album cover looks like:

The songs that are posted on the Leifer Bandcamp now are still evolving... I'll post it up on the blog again when the album is done. I wanted to put some things up, like an un-mixed preview. Then let those songs sit, then work on other Leifer songs while the first group exits my head, and come back to the first batch, post the second batch, and repeat... Like I said, it gets hard to hear the same loops over and over again without them becoming aural nothingness.
And this way, you guys can see the first versions evolve into the second versions... Hear what changed, and what stayed the same. Etc.

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Second:
My other, other project [Songs from the moon] is going strong. We're playing a couple of shows at AJs cafe in Ferndale in the near future. One of them is going to be an ambient/noise show at 5AM and the other will be a more traditional full band, piano based, folk/rock, percussion heavy, song writer songs. Click the above link for more information on that, and all thing Songs from the moon related. We are also planning on playing an acoustic show, and more big full band shows in the not as near future.

Here is a video clip from our first show... Just a taste. A tease.

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Thirdly, -or -Next on the list:

I have plans to make a Matilda split cassette tape with Jon Berz [ex-Blase Splee, current Songs from the moon]. I've made tapes in the past, but never as a end-game product. Always as a "I have all these ideas I need to get down on something and all I have is this old hand held voice recorder from the 90's."
A lot of my first recordings were done on tape. I love the woozy feel. The warm up when you press play. The slow stretch. The occasional strange gaps in parts of noise that happen over time.
It's going to be good.
We're thinking of two or three songs per each tape side. One side would be a couple new Matilda songs and the other side would be a few new songs from Jon. But, the cool thing is, is we're going to help one another record and play on all the songs together. So Jon will be filling out the sounds of the Matilda stuff, and vice versa.

[Excitement... like a lot of it]

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Fourth:


My good buddy Danny has been working on a home-made synthesizer for a while now. And when I say "working on," I mean he's building this mother-fucker from scratch. Well, the first incarnation of it is finally done and he's left it with me and my fiance to do some art work on the box. Can't wait to turn his project into something he can't stand to look at. [wink]

This is what it looks/sounds like.

Pretty neat.



The coming days/months should be interesting.



Here's to new work.