We invited a bunch of folks to come and record with us to make sounds for our coming 9th album!  And after a bout of the FLU, DAE’s Robb Kunz finally had a chance to put together a few clips from the fun event.

This is my personal favorite (the sound of thirty mouths making popping sounds!):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here is some dish smashing:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here is some Taunting for the song Bagel Boy:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here is some laughter:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are some gongy sounds:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are some Klangy Sounds:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Some Crazy Jumps and Shouts:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

INTRODUCTION:

On August 19th, we held a public recording event to capture crowd sounds, marching sounds, metal orchestra sounds and such things that can only sound great with a mass of people.  The sounds will be used on Degenerate Art Ensemble’s 9th Album.   Among those in attendance was our CELEBRITY GUEST BLOGGER, the wonderful composer/performer John Osbold of the unmatched magnificent band AWESOME . John was kind enough to post his experience of the night here on this blog. We will be posting actual sounds of the event shortly.

On a rainy Tuesday night at the fantasticYoungstown Cultural Arts Center in lovely West Seattle, a troupe of adventurous souls met with the mad scientists of DAE to create a smorgasbord of sounds for the upcoming album & show…

INGREDIENTS

4 microphones
3 tables
2 tarps
2 garbage bins
10 glass bottles
3 bowls
1 plate
3 pairs safety goggles
5 pairs tap shoes
1 gong ageng
various colorful whistles
dry branches
assortment of pots & pans
chimes (small)
chimes (large)

INSTRUCTIONS

This morning’s rehearsal is focused on the creation of our “Mother Mothra” scene. Haruko, Leo and I are looking at excting ways to use video. So, inspired by Gene Kelly (see below), we want to create a choreography between Haruko and “Haruko”. We are just getting our feet wet. This scene is an argument between the girl character and her evil “MOTHER MOTHRA” - a shape shifting creature who says

“Im the mother you erased,

Im your father long lost,

Im your twin sister from you dream,

Im anything you want me to be.”

HERE IS A LITTLE CUT FROM A SKETCH RECORDING (its for the new album, but this is not the version that will appear on the album - just a little snippet played on guitar and pantrhastic harp zither with Haruko singing)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

We are thinking about ways that they can interact. If anyone knows any really cool video tricks that can be accomplished with this as a live performance, wed love to hear about it!

OK, so we did our best. We made a valliant attempt at recording the first tracks of this album at TUBS, the old closed down hot tub joint. There is tons of space and multiple different sounding rooms. Seemed like a really ideal place to work on the recording project.

We tried everything to make the rooms sound good. It just seemed like there was no way to make it work. We tried to damp the drywall with cloth, we tried everything.

POl drank lots of coffee.

Robb set up his control room.

Worked on the drum sounds…. BUT SADLY. The room just didn’t have a good enough sound…….

BYE BYE TUBS! WELL MISS YOU. Moving on to a new location tomorrow…

So now we are in the final stretch before getting down into the actual recording. Haruko and I were just talking about the lyrics. How we are trying to stay true to our original theme. “Every day Heroism”. But like all real artistic threads, they lead you in ways that you weren’t necessarily planning. The theme comes first. Then the elusive sounds and images flood in and sometimes disobey us. Refuse to walk in a straight line. Stories of hungry girls that have the apatite of scores of men. Giants keep appearing…

Ok I look at it all and start to see some patterns. All of the stories are about tiny beings who have or strive to have huge power. The struggle against “Giants” to find their power. Well that relates in a way to this idea of everyday heroism. Tiny ordinary beings that do enormous things. But somehow the manifestation has been twisted to not entirely “heroic” acts. Some of the stories just present a tiny being that performs incredibly monstrous feats. Is it “heroic” to achieve something a million times huger than yourself? Even if there is no benevolent action? Must sleep. LYRIC: “I have an apatite, of a giant man. I’ve seen little women, devour, three bento lunch specials… but my, apatite, is beyond. I gorge when I need to. Like a giant man. I belch with the best of the men, smashing my 8th bottle… but my, apatite, is beyond.”

A hero (from Greek ἥρως hērōs^[1]), in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, the offspring of a mortal and a deity,^[2] their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion.

Later, hero (male) and heroine (female) came to refer to characters that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence.

Stories of heroism may serve as moral examples. In classical antiquity, hero cults, veneration of deified heroes such as Heracles, Perseus, or Achilles, played an important role in Ancient Greek religion. Later emperors employed hero worship for their own apotheosis, that is, cult of personality.

DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY INTERESTING WRITINGS ON HEROISM ESPECIALLY FROM UNUSUAL PERSPECTIVES? HISTORY OF THE WORD HERO… STRANGE TAKES…?

This is the 11th day of mad songwriting. The DAE house is rumbling with different sounds from different rooms. Today mr. producer Robb Kunz stopped by to hear the material that is materializing. Bringing with him ideas for adding french horns and bollywoodesque string parts. This daily ritual of massive tea drinking and focus is wonderful when it happens for hours every day. Things start to flow and grow. The album is starting to take some shape. Starting to get a feel for what this thing is going to be. Of course having to discuss it with Robb definitely brings a realist perspective. OK WHAT INSTRUMENTS WILL BE ON THE ALBUM? Round up the players for such and such a date. Ok reality. We start REAL tracking on Sunday.

HERE IS A LITTLE SNIPPET FROM HARUKO AND JEFF’s VOCAL SKETCH FOR “BAGEL BOY” for the new album.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

OH! Ian has posted a test clip from the film! Here it is. Just a little taste of what is to come:

And here is a little bit of funny footage from Ian, Haruko and I making music for the film out of carrots, blackberry roots and rubberbands!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

hi, so i’m pol rosenthal and i’m one of the newer members on this latest endeavor for the DAE. Haruko and Josh have asked me to lend my literary talents to songwriting, lyric construction. (if that’s not enough of an intro you can also get more on me here.)

h & j gave me a song tentatively titled, ’scam and search;’ it’s a sort of hiphop type piece. or it’s the dae’s take on a hiphop number. it is, of course, endowed with their strange and peculiar spirits. and i am totally in love with it. i think we might be changing the name to something like, ‘relief song.’ haruko has a great line that goes, ‘i wanna wake up/on the day that we find our relief’ that has been inspiring me for the last few days. thanks haruko!

we’ve been spending hours and hours just getting the words right. some kind of a positivity anthem. i think. it’s pretty whimsical at the same time. lots of overdubs and strange piano loops and chorusing vocals and something that is known as ‘the cheeseburger.’ if you are curious as to what a cheeseburger is in terms of vocals let me tell you: it’s just doubling up the original vocal and not changing the key. it might also be when you put some more meat on your head in the studio and somebody slaps you and says, “quit being so cheesy…” i hope not. i don’t like putting meat on my head and h & j keep threatening to cheeseburger everything.

i will shut up now. i am very excited to be working with haruko and josh and jeff. here’s some pictures from our session earlier today. i’m the guy who needs a haircut. shutting up.

Seattle

Yeah. Getting Started. A lot of new projects rolling out. Yesterday Robb, Jeff and I got together to brainstorm the tactics for getting started on this new album. We will be recording demos for half of June and then jump into the actual album in the 2nd half of june. We are searching like mad for good recording locations. Just visited Pol at “TUBS” aka Soak and Poke, an old closed out hot tub joint. Its a mad place and Pol has generously made it an option for recording madness. Of course Robb, like the old man he is needs “natural light”… so Tubs seems like it will be the standby for the time being.

Haruko and I are spending crazy people time in our house working on writing songs and developing some new work for our next dance show. Playing on pots and pans, instruments strewn about our living room. Recording coffee percolation sounds and cracking eggs.

Thinking deeply about our next big stage show in March of ‘09. It seems a long ways off, but it will go fast for sure. Right now assembling the creative team. Juicy!

-Joshua