BLOG-O-RAMAS

I’d like to mention to artists who passed last week.

First, Lynn Taitt. A stunning guitarist from Jamaica who has been living in Canada outside of Montreal for a number of years. I had the pleasure of meeting him when he played on the Kingpins Let’s Go To Work CD. The band asked him to play on Johnny Rocksteady – and apt title for a Mr. Taitt to play on. He tracked the guitar where we were doing the rest of the album at Silent Sound, Montreal. A few takes through and he had “bubbled” from top to bottom. It went so fast that the band was still in shock. It felt like high school, passing notes in class. They asked me to ask Lynn if he could lay down a quick take on Last Train To Expo ‘67. So I did my best to ask him politely to stay a little longer even though he was only getting paid for the one track. He happily agreed and when I explained how the old cover song went he said “no problem, I played on the original.”

The remix is the first thing you here on my Myspace Mixed Tape No. 1. Listen for the muted bubble guitar at the top. We purposely made this mix so that we could feature the smaller pieces (like Lynn’s bubble) because the album mix was a wall of parts from top to bottom.

This may be good background.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle have been in my musical life since high school. I have just about everything they’ve released including a 12″ with some rare B-side. A staple at the home. It was my turn to act the school boy when I worked at Studio Frisson, Montreal, for several projects. So had the McGarrigles and their photos were taped to the wall. Don would tell me stories about their recording sessions. Nothing dramatic, just the kind of things I would expect to hear, but I lapped them all up.

Last week Kate died  so I’d like to share this clip of the sisters playing a French song of theirs (originally recorded in the ska style) that I absolutely love. Kate is on the accordion pumping the hell out of it every time she plays a lead line.

Lynn and Kate – R.I.P.

Spent a year (maybe more) working with Bruno Capinan. He came in to record a few stripped down songs and pretty soon we were tracking drums, cellos,  re-tracking older songs, importing horn tracks that were recorded on the other side of the world and so on. His album (Gozo) is finally out. The first video (Astral) is something I recorded with Bruno at The Electrical Room. The second video (Acalanto) was recorded a long time ago with his guitarist Brian. We mixed this for the video release only. Bruno’s passion and drive to take Brazilian music to new places has helped him transcend the kind of revisionist trends that are so tempting to follow.

Alright. In the last 10 days I’ve been forced to take alternate routes due to problems with the TTC. Last night’s detour was caused by a medical emergency so I don’t want to go on about how the Subway always breakdown, but there are some issues to address. The one I’m most concerned with is the Toronto Transit’s Plan B. The buses they send off to bypass the underground trains. Hard to  send off that fleet at a  moments notice, right? Perhaps the answer is to hire an elite staff of transit pushers. What am I talking about?

watch

Let’s stimulate the economy and shove some people into a tight space while we’re doing it. The transit will be a little less lonely.

Listening

I took the weekend off. Some chores around the house kept us busy, but now that I’m winding down and thinking about my work for the rest of the week, I’m amazed at how much music I’ve taken in this weekend alone.

I vaguely remember listening to Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist soundtrack yesterday along with a soundtrack disc from the original Star Trek series and Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations, but today seems like it’s been wall to wall when I list the music in my head.

Started off with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on a disc that included Schumann and Liszt, followed by Elvis Costello’s Useless Beauty, The In Sounds From Way Out (always a fine accompaniment to any decent board game), more Glenn Gould (The Two and Three Part Inventions), Napoleon soundtrack (Carmine Coppola), Django Reinhardt (Djangology), Schumann’s Piano Quintet In E Flat Major and finished off with Mitchell Froom’s A Thousand Days (part of our night time routine – listened to this about 500 times, so far and still not tired of it).

It leaves me wondering how much music do we take in everyday? I see people traveling with iPods and such on public transit, that’s hours alone everyday. Some of this music is strictly for setting the mood, some for accompaniment to get me through dull tasks and the rest for me to sit down and take in fully. I was beginning to feel like I was burning out at work, but recently I’ve managed a month of compressed days that have allowed me to have full days off (sometimes three in a week) and I think it’s refreshed me somewhat.

Looking forward to the next record.

Here’s a little Gould to get it going.

It started yesterday when I was running off rough mixes for Michelle McKibbon. I knocked over my water bottle and spilled it all over the crotch of my jeans. Looked exactly like I pissed myself. Not the way I thought my morning would go. I had plans. Going to the washroom upstairs was part of them. Feeling like I didn’t want to risk it I decided to hang up the jeans and hang out in my underwear boots. Not a pretty sight, but I marched on. Lots to do. I decided to begin the task of rearranging the studio, moving desks, consoles, electric organs…etc… Eventually, I couldn’t hold it any longer so I used my water bottle as a urine receptacle, as I was too embarrassed to go upstairs with the wet jeans. A little irrational as almost no one uses that washroom.

I realize that this story isn’t really going anywhere. So I’d like to share my Halloween costume with you.

Robo-costume for Halloween

I tried to get this picture upright, but alas, no go.

Finished tracking for Kelsey McNulty this week. Really enjoyed her music. Mostly a live session with band except for a couple of vocal, electric guitar and rhodes overdubs.

Enjoying our new Vintech pre-amp/ EQ.

So many smaller sessions that my head is spinning. I enjoy being involved, but it does become difficult shifting gears three times a day.

K. and I watched Adventureland and Rachel Getting Married this past weekend. Enjoyed both. I can’t remember the last time we watched 2 movies in one weekend. Over 3 evenings, mind you. ha.

Our new studio set up is a great improvement. We have a concentrated keyboard island of sorts that makes them easy to access and use for any recording. Also, we have the old Traynor console set up now. I enjoy the tone from those strips so I’m happy to have that option.

Currently reading Eleanor Rigby (D. Coupland). Easy read, fun enough. I’ve been taking a break from the depressing run I had. After War and Peace I couldn’t stop reading emotionally heavy material from Blindness, The Road, The Cellist of Sarajevo, Atonement…etc… I finally broke it with The Body Snatchers and a short story collection by Richard Matheson. I find that whatever book I read begins to shade my mood according to the story’s tone.

Working with Josiah and Shawn Sage today. Perhaps a third. I’ll see when I check my messages.

Saw this post this morning. So did 3.45 million others.

Remarkable.