Monstrous Media!

See ya’ll in a few weeks.. Sorry if the postings are sparse.

Much Love,

Andrew

Um, dance party anyone? Introducing Jeffery Jerusalem. Power-pop meets late-70s disco meets Justice. Mr. Jerusalem started working on Grimace as solely a recording project a while back but soon found that recordings only go so far. The people want to hear it live. With no reason to argue, JJ took to the stage playing house shows and small venues. His complex explosions cannot be re-created live, but to that JJ has a simple solution: he simply plays his recordings live and dances around to the music whilst sometimes singing the vocal hooks. Perhaps the best thing about his live show is the satirical element. Jeffery knows he’s just hitting play and wants the crowd to know it too. He mocks all those who bring their pre-recorded tracks to the stage and twist knobs around pretending to be performing by smacking the keys of his key board in nonsensical jest or twisting a few knobs himself and looking up at the crowd and demonstrating, “See? This is what real DJs do.” He also brings some percussion up on stage with him, a set of quads and a reduced drum kit. Jerusalem is foremost a percussionist, joining other notable local outfits Inside Voices and Powernap. This record is a dance party in a package.

Jeffrey Jerusalem - Disco Dry Mouth

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Jeffrey Jerusalem - The Mockery

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[SPECIAL]: I’m putting up the entire album for download here for a limited time due to popular demand. Hopefully this will only aid in the imminent success of Mr. Jerusalem in any and all of his endeavors and not harm his efforts in anyway. Love, Andrew

I woke up yesterday with a full song in my head. This is a ROUGH ROUGH ROUGH demo of the basic idea laid out. I need to find a way to make more substantial beats. Drumming on the back of my guitar wont cut it anymore.

In other news, I just got a ukulele! My good bud Cory Mack passed along his old one so I’d have and instrument to travel with. What a guy. No uke on the following track, however.

Royal - Doit Forme

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I know it’s been some time now but I wanted to let all of my devoted readers in on the full goings-on that went down last Saturday at the Tender Loving Empire Compilation Release Party/Second Birthday Party. The night went over very well with yours truly, as the host for the evening, making everything go as smoothly as possible, organizing the live art, and giving away all kinds of goodies.

Reporter opened the set powerfully with their own brand of energetic late 80’s punk influenced dance-rock. It was still a bit early, with their set opening at 6:30 but someone had to start the party. Reporter certainly stepped up to the challenge and delivered.

Alberta from Reporter

Next up was Gratitilluim. These guys are fresh; they play psychedelic folk rock about animals. A lively set kept the crowd involved and they satisfied my personal urges to hear their track that appears on the TLE Comp, “Monkey Play”.

A strange bird man cues samples effectively for Gratitillium

I had arranged for there to be live screen printing demos going on throughout the night. The only catch was that participants had to provide their own items to be printed on, i.e. take of their shirts. This was a huge success throughout the night with something like 50 prints pulled.

Alex and Andrew work the screen printing station.

Super XX man wooed the crowd with his musically therapeutic tunes. The bass player’s bass was a bit out out of tune for the majority of their set but it didn’t seem to bother anyone.

Super XX Man and his Glockenspeil gal.

These guys are 'tards.

After a round of give-aways, jokes, and sing-alongs, World’s Greatest Ghosts took the stage. These guys were GREAT. Despite the generally bad sound that Backspace (the venue) provides, the levels were balanced and they rocked out. World’s Greatest Ghosts plays an up-beat variety of rock often sprinkled with synths and harmonies; right up my alley..

Can you see my psychedellic goo in the background?

The one man band, Boy Eats Drum Machine, never ceases to amaze me. His live performance consists of just him, cutting live samples straight off of vinyl, whilst simultaneously playing saxophone and singing all the hooks. He is capable of building his songs right there on stage, complete with tv monitors showing the audience his hands as he crafts. The outcome is soulful, beat-oriented, experimental dance music; good stuff.

BEDM cuttin that shit

The live artists (ELONA!) painting while Boy Eats Drum Machine goes nuts

Next up was Mr. Jared Mees himself with all his Grown Children. Jared gave a stellar performances, as usual, fueling the fire as the birthday party went into the night. I was drawing on stage during this set so my memory of it is a bit blurred. I was using the energy from stage and putting it right onto the page, I think I blacked out.

Jared Mees with trippy psychedelic goo behind his mug.

Me, next to my second drawing of the night, during Jared Mees and the Grown Children.

Mega*Church closed the show, as it could not have happened any other way. Their set was the most perfect culmination of everything; the evening, the nusto week organizing everything with the party, and the last few months putting the Comp together that made all this possible. I was elated. They speak to the crowd as if you are attending a motivational speaking ceremony, or more appropriately, a church service. They place dance music but it’s not just drum and bass: it carries with it a positive, unifying message. It left everyone feeling content, satisfied and sweaty. Thank you Mega*Church.

This guy might be insane.

The end of the night.

And that about does it for my recap of the night. If you want to see more photos check out the full photo stream here.

You can also get the newly released compilation, Friends and Friends of Friends Vol. 2, designed and orchestrated by ME for only 8 bucks from the Tender Loving Empire online store here.

Ok, so I know I already wrote about Bitte Orca but as soon as I did I got a nasty email from Domino Records telling me to take down the links to the songs I had posted. I’ve gotten a couple requests to put the links up and I figure it’s close enough to the record’s release date that Domino might have accepted the release of a few songs to the greater good. Also, I was fortunate enough to catch a good portion of their set this last weekend at The Roseland opening up for TV on the Radio (dang Roseland starting their shows on time makes me miss music). They totally killed it and make me look forward SO HARD to their headlining gig at Holocene in July. For those of you who come to me looking for some new tunes, read the last post and listen to the following:

Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource

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Dirty Projectors - Remade Horizon

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Well it’s official: I’ll be creating the album art for the new Inside Voices record tentitively titled The Fortunes. The above image is a mockup I did just to get an initial idea out. I found this image of the man with the map at a junk store behind my house. He seems like an intense, poetic individual who doesn’t give a shit that he’s completely lost; appropriate for the tunes (see New Music: Inside Voices.) Stay tuned for further updates on this project.
Also, we just had a small listening party in my living room for their newly mastered record a few hours ago and let me say, it’s lovely. I’m truly honored to be a part of this project and look forward to all the success Inside Voices has coming to them.

So, about a week has gone by since I was invaded and taken advantage of, but now, I’m happy. I’ve gotten over it, for all intensive purposes, and have begun to move into stage 2: Situation Rectification. My roommate and I will be throwing a benefit concert, for me, in June to maybe make some dough back that I can toss towards a new computer. The line-up and venue are still in the works.. stay tuned.

My sincerest thanks and endless love to all of you who have been so supportive. Un-expected donations, advice, and just all round good friends; I am truly grateful for the cushy pillow I have to fall into when shit hits the fan.

In other fantastic news, we threw the Tender Loving Empire Birthday/Compilation Release Party at Backspace last night. It was a huge success, with a huge turnout, and great GREAT energy. It felt like the culmination of all of my efforts at TLE, designing and organizing the compilation, planning the whole party, and all my other deign projects and time spent up on 18th and Lovejoy. I was elated, saddened, and relieved that it was all over. You can check out more information on the Comp and all other happenings at TLE at the Tender Loving Empire website.

I will be writing much more about all of this later on but now I must go play kickball…. don’t worry. I’m happy.

Dear Everyone,

Last friday we hosted the most spectacular show at my house with Reporter, Yeah Great Fine, Skip Roxy, and Deau Deau and after a glorious, flawless evening, tragedy struck. My entire room was cleared out of all its electronics; my new Macbook Pro, my new Lumix digital camera, my iPod, my friend’s HP laptop, and a few other smaller things. My entire workstation, not to mention a lot of my raw work files are gone; my livelihood, crushed. It sucks ass. The theft totaled about $5000 in electronics. I’m looking for ideas for ways to raise some money so I can get rolling again. For lack of anything more constructive, I’ve set up a donate button in the sidebar for anyone who feels so inclined to contribute to the “Andrew Needs a New Computer cause it sucks to be Robbed” fund. I’ll keep you all posted on any developments regarding the theft.

Check out the new donate button to the right —->

Love you all.

Andrew

Well, here it is folks. I have been given the green light to go ahead and release the second music video for Portland band, Starfucker, directed by yours truly. I have gone in a completely different direction with my second video, utilizing live footage, green screens and After Effects for nearly all of the production. The concept behind the video was to extract and canonize the best and most recurrent elements from a typical hip hop video scenario; flashy dancers, big cars, intense focus on the artist, and a loose story line revolving around money and some sort of frivolous conflict. We took these motifs and stylized them in a way that was more relevant to the song whilst still keeping the feel of the video big, and flashy. The video should feel familiar, but with a certain layer of grit screwing up the picture. Please watch it 1,000,000 times and be sure to tell me what you think.

PRESS!
My Old Kentucky Blog
Portland Mercury’s End Hits
RVA Magazine Interview with ME!
Prefix Magazine
Nialler9
The Needle Drop
The Stranger

I got very excited last fall when Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors walked past my front porch in Portland, Oregon. I stopped him and asked him what he was doing in town (knowing that they were based in Brooklyn). He immediately became bashful at the fact that I had recognized him but, to quickly answer my question, he told me that the Dirty Projectors we recording in Portland. This information, straight from the source, was confirmation that i would be getting a new Dirty Projectors record sometime in the future. I let him go so I could sit back and fantasize about what the follow-up to 2007’s Rise Above would sound like…. Would it be another concept/cover album? Would it be as mind-fuckingly amazing? Well don’t worry, dear readers; speculate no further, Bitte Orca has arrived. This album trumps Merriweather, smashes Veckatimest, and most certainly rises above, Rise Above. It’s all 100% original material; no cover/concept this time, and it has fucked my mind repeatedly.
The Dirty Projectors have created a record that satisfies all of the criteria I look for when seeking out new listening material. First, and foremost, it’s intelligent. It makes me THINK; about making music, about what music should be and where it should be going. It sets and example for the rest of us, it takes sound in a brave direction, as all new music should. Second, it’s beautiful. The females (Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman) take a leading role on many of the songs (as the album cover might suggest) and sew us through the rest of the record with their flawless, engaging harmonies. Longstreth’s song writing is kept simple at times and taken straight from outer space at others. At it’s root, this is pop record. But the Dirty Projectors have a delightful way of taking something we all know and are familiar with and pushing it to an extreme that no other musical outfit could have accomplished.

The Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource (DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST)

The Dirty Projectors - Remade Horizon (DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST)