Archive for April, 2010

I have a number of updates:

A) You can listen to J RAUD on last.fm, an internet radio station. Go here to listen!

B) You can rate three of my albums at rate yourmusic.com.

C) If you have not obtained a copy of “Naked as a Jay Bird”, J RAUD’s newest release, you can purchase it through iTunes or CDBaby. You can also download individual tracks. To preview songs, go to the music section of this website.

ALSO: A new limited special musical/ artistic release will be for sale soon! More details to come shortly.

Recording is almost complete for the Ash Lovelies, an eight piece group that I play guitar with. The songs are generally written by vocalist and leader Lou Black, and our musical ideas are generated democratically.

The Ash Lovelies have an interesting sound. “Chamber Folk Tangle Pop” are the words Lou uses to describe us. Those words do describe us pretty well, but we also dabble in rock and roll and dance club music. We have a BIG sound. We have drums, cello, banjo, a kaosilattor, a saxapone, bass, organ, keyboards, piano, digital guitar, electric guitar, backup vocals, and a drum machine featured on our debut album.

Some things that have inspired my guitar parts for The Ash Lovelies include: Surf Rock, Tex Mex, Vampire Weekend’s guitarist, Sonic Youth, and Bill Callahan’s guitarist. While recording one of the songs, I wanted to use a kitchen utensil on my guitar to create a unique sound. It didn’t work out as well as I thought, though I did nail a guitar solo on the next take, one in which the notes were created on the spot. I would like to take the time right now to thank that utensil for its inspiration.

I will keep you all updated on the progress and eventual release of The Ash Lovelies’ debut album.

Link love is a category where I’ll post links to sites I enjoy. The sites entail a wide range of topics.

The Map Scroll- If you love maps like I do, you will enjoy this site, which dissects various maps, including some that are incredibly creative  http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/

Big Foot Researchers Association-  Big Foot / Sasquatch sightings. Pick a State and find out where big foot was spotted in your area. http://www.bfro.net/

Pylon Bassist and visual artist Michael Lachowski takes photos of random things. He takes them well- http://suxsez.com

Above is a doodle that I did.

“At Home By Myself…With You” featuring “Song” by J RAUD, will be released on DVD! It’s official release date is April 20. To pre-order a copy, go to AMAZON.