So I’ve been frantically trying to take advantage of the winter break between semesters to put together a collection of my recordings from the past several years. I’ve gotten lazy as of late, opting to post demos in rough-draft form as soon as I record them, never to return to them again. Given my low-fi sensibilities and crude recording techniques, it might be pointless to shine things up for an “official” release, but there’s something psychologically satisfying about the process of going through everything, culling together the best moments, and making it all the best it can be, whatever the limitations of the source material. I haven’t done this since 2007, when I released Waiting for the miracle. I feel as if a weight has been lifted, like I’ve cleared the decks for what comes next. I’ll be putting two albums online in the coming days, one a collection of originals called “Beautifuller Things” (I know it’s grammatically incorrect, but if you listen to the record stoned, it’ll make perfect sense), and the other a collection of cover songs called “Echoes” (Yes, I even stole the title from Pink Floyd). Here’s the cover art for “Beautifuller Things” (photo by Brian Cook of Panda Riot)…
…and here’s the cover art for “Echoes“. The painting “Echo and Narcissus” is by John William Waterhouse, and it’s in the “public domain,” so it’s stealable, I think. And the songs? Did I get permission from all the artists/record labels to cover them? Er, uh… Hey look, you can see a boob in the painting!
And here’s some plain ol’ silliness…