OK, so it looks like I'll be mixing the Channels e.p. April 12 - 16, after I get back from Athens. Sometimes, having the space and the gear to mix your own record in your own house is the greatest thing you can imagine - total liberty, no watching the clock, no schedule to make you sweat .... but sometimes it means you just end up cleaning the bathroom and preparing your taxes and walking the dog etc etc instead because all this other stuff is just staring you in the face ... and not really mixing much in the end. Which is what happened this week. So let's hear it for recording studios, the places you actually have to GO to do the work.
I just realized I went over board with the superlatives last time, but what can I say, I really was AMAZED out there in SF. Vanderslice in Baltimore tonight - can't wait to hear the Pale Horse. And then ...
Georgia awaits!
3.25.04
The sun! The sun!
Just back from a month in San Francisco, working at Tiny Telephone with the Orange County band Melee. This is supposed to be a week off for me but it's amazing what catches up with you when you return from a month away. Is there any way to keep the jackbooted foot of the Man off my neck?
Really, it's not all that bad.
It's great to be home, and to have a chance to work on Channels stuff again. We are putting finising touches on what will be our debut e.p. and we'll have news about the actual release of this thing very soon, I promise. We have a couple of shows coming up; the dates are on the Channels page.
I did a week of tracking with the ever-delightful men of Kimone right when I got back from SF. Sending the files to Boston today so they can continue on their own and then we'll regroup and mix sometime down the road. Beautiful, nuanced music - this band is always so much fun to work with.
Janet and I went to see Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina's project, the Evens, at Mission Space here in Baltimore last night, and it was totally inspiring. I think of Ian as always wanting to make the show experience feel new or eye-opening somehow, and in this case it's by playing quietly in small rooms with minimal instrumentation, where everyone can look each other in the eye ... which of course takes some courage for the band and the audience. An intimate setting like this brings a different element of risk to the music, which is really very ... punk. They're a very cool band, and they were great.
Sunday I leave for another 10-day jaunt, this time down to Athens GA to work with Mr. David Barbe, mixing the amazing new Drop Sonic record. I am stoked. And I get to bring the dog!
Things that make me excited for the near future: recording and mixing a full-length with the amazing and mysterious Hidden Hand, and tracking some more epic instrumentals with my favorite 5-guitar, 2-drummer band Tone.
To state the obvious: San Francisco is one beautiful town. I had one day off last month and in the drop-dead gorgeous weather, I walked from the Mission to Golden Gate park and back, totally in awe. Finally did a tour of the Mission Dolores (as seen in Hitchcock's "Vertigo"). Saw some amazing shows out there as well, since my trip coincided with Noise Pop. Topping the list: the reunited American Music Club at Great American Music Hall. I was completely blown away. This was my first time seeing Mark Eitzel sing, and I don't have the words for it. They played the hits too: "Challenger," "Night Watchman," "Keep Me Around," "Will You Find Me..." It was just like the Mission of Burma show I saw last year, in that it felt like no time had passed for this band - the show was a total commitment to the music and the moment.
I also got to see John Vanderslice a few days before - going to his Baltimore show in a couple of days. I can't get "Cellar Door" out of my CD player. The other treat was Kristin Hersch's new band 50-Foot Wave at Cafe Du Nord. They were abrasive as hell - in a way I can't get enough of. I can't wait to hear their record. If anyone out there has an AC-30 reissue they want to sell cheap, drop me a line - this show put me in the market for one.
Excuse my politics, but if anyone out there is reading this and they haven't registered to vote, let me urge you to do it. I have a very bad feeling about the coming election, but if everyone who claims to want Bush OUT (and what sane person doesn't) actually VOTES this time, there's no way they'll be able to steal the Presidency for another 4 years. There seems to be an unspoken rule that it's not cool to talk about politics, that it makes people uncomfortable or something. But we had better start to be able to talk about it; as in virtually every other sphere, things don't get better by avoiding the subject.
See you here again soon - thanks for looking in.
Top 10 3.25
1. Mission of Burma "ONoffON"
2. Doctor Robert
3. the Evens
4. Adam Pfahler & family
5. Goat du Rhone
6. Ryan Nelson
7. Patterson Park
8. the Chai Red Eye
9. the new Eternals record
10. TV on the Radio "Young Liars" e.p.
01-29-04
Hello there. Just back from 10 days in Denton Texas, recording Red Animal War at Echo Lab, working with the redoubtable Mr. Matt Barnhardt. A great band, a great time - bit of cabin fever from sleeping in the studio, but what else is new. I'm mixing the stuff at home now on the HD rig and it's coming along as well or better than I'd expected ... I love mixing at home, emailing mp3s to the band thousands of miles away for comments and changes ... I feel very high-tech just now. Except that I've also been snowed in for two days, and there's nothing better than shovelling snow to deflate that hi-tech high.
Oh and I finally saw the 1976 film version of "Carrie" for the first time last week. I don't know how I missed out on it for so long. AMAZING.
Top Ten, uh, things
1. Network
2. Chinatown
3. Carrie (Brian DePalma version)
4. replacing my shitty SKB pedalboard with a decent home-made one
5. mixing a record in my house
6. City of God
7. Country Teasers & Ink live at the Talking Head
8. the Joy of Cooking
9. Beauty Pill "The Unsustainable Lifestyle"
10. the Medications
Welcome to JRobbins.net. Thanks for checking in. The big news of the moment here is the long-awaited (by me anyway) appearance of this website. I've been scheming for this for such a long time ... thanks to Jon Cattivera/Sleepless Design for finally kicking me into gear. I will try to update as often as I can, with news of new projects, gear acquisitions, etc. and with any developments related to my new band, Channels. 2003 has been a strange year for me; lots of good stuff, lots of weird stuff. I finally broke the ProTools barrier and got my own HD system. After all this time bitching about digital recording, I have to admit, I'm pretty psyched about the new generation of ProTools. But I bought a 1/2' machine too, just to hang onto that special someting that digital STILL can't successfully emulate ... I worked on some amazing projects this year, some of the best music I've ever had the privelege of being involved with, most of which seemed to then go immediately into limbo: amazing new records by Mock Orange, and Maritime (the new project from Dan and Davey of The Promise Ring), which I believe are both still seeking labels ... (where are the labels that should be chomping at the bit to release this incredible music? what's going on out there?!?) ... and the great new Action Slacks full-length which literally crawled to the finish line over a 2-year period, but will finally see the light of day before year's end on Self-Starter Foundation. Pilot to Gunner's awesome "Get Saved," we did back in March, but I think it might not be out 'til early next year ... God I love that record ... even the Jimmy Eat World live "unplugged" stuff I recorded last year is only coming out just now.
Anyway a friend recently theorized that all this delayed release action is actually a side-effect of the 9/11 attacks. People are apparently having to plan further ahead. I would have thought the opposite (seize the day, for there may not be a tomorrow, right?), but whatever. As long as it all gets out there. As long as we continue to make interesting stuff, keep trying to give this ridiculous culture a jolt, on whatever level we can.
Thanks for dropping in -
J.
Top 10 Whatever for Whenever:
1. Charlie Kaufman
2. Baltimore Museum of Art's "Work Ethic" show
3. Alan Douches
4. John Fahey "How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life"
5. mixing on the Trident 80-B instead of the Series 70 6. the Patterson Perk
7. Dangerously Delicious Pies
8. Reason Adapted for Digidesign
9. the Guardian Newspaper
10. Robert E. Lee Memorial Park (a great place to take your dog)