July 2nd show added!

Be there! July 2nd, 11PM 9 PM, Latitude 30 on San Jacinto, Austin, TX! We will play music so live you might not believe it!

Also, don’t forget, Red Eyed Fly, July 9th.

A Big Hello

Hey there, fellow navigators of the interweb. It’s your pal, Ariel, just getting used to traversing the band blog. Pay no attention to the man behind the keyboard. Go on about your lives and such…oh, and don’t forget to check us out as we bust July wide open. We have two shows on the horizon:

July 2-Latitude 30 at 11:oo p.m. Sixth and Trinity if memory serves me

July 9-Red-Eyed Fly at 8:30 p.m. Eighth and Red River because sometimes my memory serves me well

Kisses,

Ariel

Another Music File and some Shameless Self-Promotion

Like ya do.

So, we’ve been standardizing our playlist a little, as we do from time to time, working out what makes a good set, and what will be pleasing all the way through while also being the most fun for us to play. It’s a delicate balance. We’ve been looking very closely at it for each of our last shows, and will continue to do so until our July 9th at Red Eyed Fly (8 PM, my birthday party, great show, Free T-shirt, Don’t Miss It!) show. Then we will likely scrap the list and start fresh. It’s an ongoing project, and it’s made more fun by the sudden inclusion of new songs, sometimes written the same week as the show. I’m just saying.

Saturday, the 18th, we debuted a new one with a working title of  Am I Wrong/IvE, which will have a place on the next record. A place of honor. A place on the Track Listing. A place in the sun. It’s a good song. I believe the intent is to sneak in at least one more brand spankin’ new one on the 9th.

But, here’s a new recording of a song from the first record instead:

BanterUp

I suppose it deserves a little explanation, particularly the opening. When we play Punch Up, the goal is to have a piece of banter lead seamlessly from whatever comes before it (Over Forever in the current setlist) into the shouted intro, “Punch up the Critic, Name-Check the Obvious.”  Immediately previous to this attempt on the song, I launched into a line of bull suggesting that to date a person is to allow that person some influence over oneself, based upon a discussion tangentially related to nothing at all. This is my personal opinion for the purposes of the joke, and should be treated as such. Ari suggested that his last attempt at relation was less than ideal. I asked if she were a person I knew. The opening seconds of the file above include my sad little joke at the secret identity of the woman in question.

Also, it’s really fun to say the name “Clinton” in that silly voice.

The end is an attempt on my part to make a pun with the name of another of our new songs, “We Burn Steel,” which I have had a lot of fun misspelling. Why is it a Robert Burns pun? That’s likely a joke that doesn’t reward close examination. Suffice to say, I enjoy doing stupid voices, and that was the joke that I thought would be funniest in the situation.

So, if you’re a FaceBooker, go to the FaceBook and FaceBook us at the show July 9th which we will be playing at Red Eyed Fly at 8pm.

Upcoming Shows

There are 2 Good Lazy System Shows upcoming.
1: June 18th at 6PM at the Metropolis Apartment Complex with Tom Gun and more, additional bands.
2: July 9th at Red Eyed Fly. If you RSVP for this show and then attend, you may take advantage of the offer of a Free T-Shirt. In your size, if we can do it. If you RSVP with a size, we will set one aside for you in said size, and totally, like, give you it at the show.

White Collar Development

There is a song which we have already mostly finished for the new album, titled “White Collars Gone Wild.” For those who have seen the Live Show, it’s the one that is usually prefaced with “This song is about Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.” It’s got an infectious groove and an excuse for Ariel to use Wah and for me to do a little Slap Bass, an excuse for which I always appreciate. The song has been banging around for a while, in various forms, at least as far back as last August. Here’s a very brief excursion into the intricacies of the song it would become:

PreWhite Collars Excursion

The lyric which features so prominently in this version, “Everybody Knows the Score, Everybody wants to know what for,” was always a place-holder, and was eventually dropped in favor of the current, “Always business with you” version. This older recording has a very straight-8ths feel to the bass, and a little crunchier feel to the guitar. Ariel and I had an ongoing discussion for several weeks about the form that the song should take, most particularly the lyrical content. I wrote a set of very jokey lyrics based on an off-hand crack he made, that we should have a song called “I’m the dancer that you wish your boyfriend was.” In my version, this became “I wish I were the dancer that you wish your boyfriend was,” which you can sing along to the rhythm of the riff above, if you want to get an idea of how I heard it. Because the actual lyrics (the “Always Business” lyrics) were finished and are the lyrics to the song, I repurposed my lyrics into an entirely different song, which floats around the new album, and may or may not actually ever get played. It’s called “The Dancer,” and if a song can be cursed by apathy, this one has been.

However, on a cheerier note, here is another run-through of White Collars, with a very early take on what I have come to refer to as the Administrative Solo, but which an actual musician would probably call a “Lead.”

Collars, White and Nascent

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook, and, again, make plans to go see us on July 9th at Red Eyed Fly. I’m telling you. Good stuff.

Details on the June 18th show as they become available.

The .mp3 album For Download

OK, so Albatross Empire is available for you to download at CDBaby, Amazon or iTunes. I hear we are headed for last.fm, but we don’t seem to be on there yet. If you are a person who owns a Zune, you can buy it however you buy stuff for your Zune. I’m not hating, I just have no idea. It, like, takes a blood sample or something, right?

There’s another option, of course, not that I would ever try to hamstring digital sales or whatever, but if you go to one of our upcoming shows, and you mention that you read this post (mention it by saying “You guys rock. Do you have an album?”) I will give you a CD, and, very likely, a sticker. Then, you can rip or burn or break or tear or spindle or fold or mutilate to your heart’s content. These are options. You have them.

What upcoming shows, you ask? Well, here is a short list:

June 4, Latitude 30, 8PM

June 18 with Tom Gun. Details as they become available, knock wood.

July 9th, Red Eyed Fly, 8:30 PM. Keep an eye on this one. It will be worth your time.

Well, now you gone and done it.

So, here it is:
12 months in 2 minutes
Go ahead, give it a listen. I’ll wait.
So, what, you ask, the Hell, you exclaim, is that? It’s the entire album, Albatross Empire, multi-tracked as a single song. It is the work of about a year, all sixteen tracks, played at once. It is monstrous, is it not?
At first glance, it is only a horrible mishmash of terror, but I find that, upon close examination, I find interesting things in it. First, and no surprise here, I am just about the loudest thing on the album. If I listen carefully, I can pick out almost the whole song, “Punch Up,” woven throughout. At about a minute in, the long yells of The Comfort Of sort of surface and gasp, before again diving into the scrum. Most of the rest becomes a susurrus of lyrical confusion. I find that it has a Gamelan effect, in that I hear things produced from the entirety that I know are not present.
It falls close to becoming simple white noise, but still, bits stick out at jagged angles, breaking the surface and becoming illusory in a single moment.
Chris McL, who has a warning  present in the mix, but becomes inaudible against my barbaric Yawp, asks, if this is so monstrous, is it a Lizardman? Maybe. Maybe it is at that.

A Question:

I have in my possession an MP3. It is an amazing thing.

I don’t have a better word.

It encompasses the entirety of our recorded sound, while also being completely monstrous, and, let me make you a promise: it is monstrous.

Should I post it here? Do you want to hear it? I’ll create a poll. Let’s see how this works. I’ll let external opinion decide. Vote Early. Vote Often.

Albatross Empire: Available for you to download

From CDBaby. For Ten Bucks.

Super Fast

This is a piece called “Broke String Jazz.” Enjoy.Broke String Jazz