Alex Arrowsmith

Might paint something I’ll want to hang here.

Alex — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:22:24 +0000

The first review of Modernity Leave is in, and believe it or not, it’s a positive one! Looks like I sent it to the right people, because they seemed to get it, and not everyone would. It’s a review site called Babysue, who also gave Applewine a nice review waaaaay back in 2006. So thanks to Babysue for that little Modernity Leave writeup. Go read it!

Public Domain Rainbow update: I have actually been actively working on the album a lot in the past week. In the past few months, I’ve just been tweaking here and there because I’m afraid of finishing it (I might be coming down with Chinese Democracyitis), but I’ve been recording a lot of vocals (both myself and Alyssa), patching up parts that have been bugging me. The album feels very close to finished, and I think it’s because I finally feel like this batch of songs feels complete with the addition of “All You Need Is Love” as the closing song. I didn’t have a good closing song before, but now it feels like I’m finally getting some hotels on my monopolies. So I may end up finishing it pretty soon here. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be releasing it soon, but at least it would be out of my system!

“Ana Ng” cover and other chiclets.

Alex — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:25:43 +0000

Earlier this year, I recorded a cover of They Might Be Giants’ “Ana Ng.” I totally forgot about it, but I just recently listened to it again and realized that I still like it. I just did it for fun in one day, so it’s amazing that it still passes the Oregon Bar Exam. We’ll see how it does on the Washington one. Listen:

In PDR news, I began recording the GOOD version of Modernity Leave’s “All You Need Is Love,” starting with REAL LIVE DRUMS. I rarely get to record with real drums, but Bill from Tiger House was rad enough to let me come over to his house last Friday afternoon and make some noise on Ky’s drum kit. I’m very pleased. The song is almost done, and I might upload a SNEEK PEEK here soon if I still like it after it’s done.

A couple weeks ago, I recorded the Hand Check album. It’s beautiful and huge. It will be done and available soon enough!

If you’re wondering if you ripped off that song.

Alex — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:33:25 +0000

The new Weezer single (deep breath) “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” is out and I had to laugh at how much that riff sounds like the (dare I say) iconic bass riff in “Whales Sing” by The Shaky Hands. It’s exactly the same riff, except faster. Of course, it’s not the most original guitar phrase in the first place—I believe Otis Redding had a song with a very similar riff—but the two riffs are note-for-note the same! Of course, other than that the songs sound nothing like one another, but I thought it was worth noting. I can’t link to the Weezer song, but I’m sure you can easily find a stream of it on some music blog somewhere if you wanted to (I want you to).

Doesn’t it sound like just the thing for our boys to drum up some publicity for the new album… (kidding! …maybe)

Update 4:26 PM: I made a video comparing the riffs side by side.

Calling in all favors.

Alex — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:47:30 +0000

Download Modernity Leave in its entirety.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore.

Alex — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:48:02 +0000

I wanted to take a photo of Tessa buried in Modernity Leaves to announce its release, but she wouldn’t let me tonight. Now there’s just a bunch of cat hair all over my CDs. So I’ll just have to use words:

MODERNITY LEAVE IS OUT!!!

And by out I mean let me know if you want it and I’ll send/give you one. It’s free at the moment. I’ll probably add it to CD Baby/iTunes pretty soon, but for now you have to get it from the source.

A ticket: not in the juvenile sense.

Alex — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:34:59 +0000

It’s official, my furry crustaceans: Modernity Leave is coming out NEXT MONTH! In just the past couple of weeks, I finished up the recording of a record total 40 songs on my shabby old Fostex XR-7 four-track contraption. Then just two days ago I mixed and mastered it in a day. Today I designed the cover. I love this album. It’s totally different from anything I’ve done so far. Not that it’s all crazy and innovative or anything. It’s just unpolished and rough as a rasp, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. And I figured, to make it worth your while, I’d fill up an entire CD. While I recorded 40 songs, not all of them will fit, so there’s “only” going to be 36 songs. I’ll have the final running order up here soon!

PREPARE.

Also, don’t forget about my show on Sept. 3 at the Ash St.! Shove it into your temporal lobe!

I’d like to thank Mr. QS6.1 and Ghandi.

Alex — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:48:27 +0000

Let’s start at the beginning. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a huge fan of the TV show Lost. The guys from Tiger House can attest to this, when I refused to practice or play shows on the days of the premiere and finale of the recent season. Earlier this month, ABC started a contest where Lost fans could write and record a mock theme song for Lost and then the winner would be announced at Comic-Con (which was last weekend) and they’d get their song played and everything. It’s not a life-changingly huge thing, but it’s good exposure for the winner. So I entered. I wrote a short instrumental that I thought captured the feel of Lost pretty well, and I actually ended up very happy with the end product, which I didn’t expect to be.

Well, I didn’t win. And in a bizarre turning of the tables, the winning theme song was a goofy butt-rock song with lyrics, and mine was this serious attempt at a theme song. Usually it would be the other way around; I’d do the goofy thing and then the serious thing would win. But that is cool for the guys who made the winning song, they got thousands of people visiting their Myspace as a result! But then Alyssa suggested that I do a quick edit of my theme song to a Lost trailer and post it on YouTube in time to catch some of the Comic-Con frenzy. So I did! Watch:

It’s actually been getting lots of views, which is awesome. DarkUFO (one of the big Lost fan sites) posting about it sure doesn’t hurt either! So hey, thanks fellow Lost geeks!

Alex

Take note, toucans.

Alex — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:22:27 +0000

My cat has taught himself Tongan.

Alex — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Alyssa has been working a ton on the website the past few days. Doesn’t it look so pretty? It’s going to the senior prom with The Drudge Report, and I don’t approve of this. He didn’t even bring a corsage.

There isn’t a whole lot of news to report for the time being, except for the two shows I have coming up in the next couple months. August 16 at the Hawthorne Theater Lounge and Sept 3 at the Ash St. Saloon. The latter will be an electric set and the former will be acoustic. I may try to get a special guest or two.

Public Domain Rainbow report: I have been working on three songs lately: “Nuke Song II,” “Breathe In The Air” (with Alyssa on vocals) and “The Act Of Living.” They’re mostly done, except there is more singing to be sung. I haven’t been able to record vocals lately though because 1) Alyssa has had a cold and 2) IT’S TOO RAGING WARM. Recording vocals when it’s hot is the worst thing ever, because I have to turn off all the fans, close the windows and doors AND have a computer heating up this small space. For some reason, I always end up recording albums in the summer. It’s never a good idea. I think I’m going to build a studio on Antarctica and only record in the middle of the night in July (remember, the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere).

Here’s what the track listing is looking like at the moment:

Bad Vibrations
A Different Story
Sexual Taxi
Step Inside
Saving Up The World
Painted Over
Breathe In The Air
Nuke Song II
2012
My Minimum
Not Salman Rushdie
YouTube Celebrity
The Act Of Living
We All Abide

Of course, that will surely change by the time I release the album. It always does. Oh, and when is this album coming out, you whisper? Probably not before the end of the year, unless Ed McMahon comes to my door soon, in which case I’d have bigger issues than an album release to deal with.

Stay apprehensive, my friends.

Alex

A broken bottle top.

Alex — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:26:37 +0000

To further add to the deluge of Michael Jackson commentary and tributes out there in the past few days, here is a cover of “Man In The Mirror” that I recorded in an afternoon over a year ago. It was recorded just for fun, because at the time I was listening to that song a lot. I had to get it out of my system. It’s a great song!

Download it!
[Play]