Archive for June, 2010

“Robots Fishing“, pen on ink jet paper, scanned. Jeff Raudebaugh, 2010.

Current listening is where I’ll post about artists I am listening to. Below is my current soundtrack:

Bobbie Gentry- 60’s and 70’s folk singer-songwriter with an incredibly sexy voice, great writing, and good looks to boot (the ultimate trifecta). Some of her fairly well known songs include “Ode to Billy Joe” and “Fancy”. Dig deeper and you’ll find she has a great selection of material, though she retired from music in the late 1970s.

Fela Kuti- The Afro-beat pioneer with political songs and nice rhythms. His voice and saxaphone work are powerful, and the long songs can put you in a trance.

The Cranberries- This 90’s group reminds me of middle school. Listen to the album “Everybody else is doing it so why can’t we?”, and I dare you to tell me this isn’t epic music that will chill your spine.

Oasis- I am referring to the “What’s the Story Morning Glory” album. Who sounds like that album right now? I say no one does.  Listen to the songs “Champagne Supernova”, and “Wonderwall”, they epitomize the 90’s sound, yet still sound fresh. These guys were not Beatles rip-offs like everyone claimed.

Os Mutantes- Psychedelic Brazilian group from the 60’s and 70’s, though they just released a new album about a year ago, and are still good at what they do.  Their sound conjures up images of drunken monkeys tipping over couches and splattering paint on the walls.

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

The Hope Chest- Old newspaper clippings of the early 1900’s, often humorous.  Topics include the evil that is Jazz music, mince meat pies, and radical health advice. You really should check this site out to see what I mean.

Assignment Detroit- Time magazine is doing a year-long feature on Detroit, with a mostly positive, refreshing outlook on the economically dire city.

Spinner- Music news about indie acts and big-time artists too. This site covers a broad range of music, although they leave out Polka. Polka has it bad right now.

I made a new casette mix tape. This one was inspired by a dictator-looking frog.

My album “Nickels & Dimes” is 5 years old this year.

This album took a long time to create. All of the tracks were recorded between 2001 and 2004. They were recorded in a don’t fret over the mistakes (punk folk?) manner, in my Dad’s basement, when I’d come home from college during breaks.  There are so many different styles and sounds incorporated on the album: electronic, folk, alt-country, psychedelic, and more. Its chaotic, messy nature was either loved or loathed (or somewhere in-between) by people who heard it.

I found an old review of the album here.

Give a listen to a few tracks (and read about each) from “Nickels & Dimes” below:

Candy Cigarettes This song was created from scratch over a period of 3-4 hours on a sunny day in 2001.The lyrics were made up on the spot. The vocal you hear on the recording is me ad-libbing (sort of like what a lot of rappers do, although done in the genre of folk pop). Inspiration for the chime sound hook came from the tubular bells at McCurdy Park in Owosso, MI. It’s reminiscent of a Beatles song.

Red Rover I had the keyboard part for this kicking around in my head for months. In 2004, I finally came up with a vocal part from just joking around and having fun. You can hear my ecstasy in the Jerry Lee Lewis piano at the end.

Running Out Of Batteries This one was written in 2002, I believe. I used to write songs while standing alone in my Dad’s kitchen, looking out the window at birds and butterflies, and this was one that was written that way. I didn’t record it until about 2 years later, because for a long time I couldn’t get the right sound. This song is best done in a sparse way. One of my favorites.