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[Seb Riou]

How did i miss 5 pages of this amazing thread ?!?

Great work Mr Ebeling, and great thoughts !
I feel shoegaze is on the way to come back
I surely psyche the guitars and vocals more and more

[bob ebeling]

Thanks Seb!  Shoegaze is in full swing here in my house.  'Souvlaki' by Slowdive is just playing over and over.  haha.

I would love a shoegaze revival.  Get your reverbs and delays out kids!

[bob ebeling]

Also--Don't miss the latest MGMT record!  Modern prog drenched in EMT 251.

New Interpol out.  New Blonde Redhead out.  A few nice things left in the world.  

[Seb Riou]

Yup, can't wait to hear the Interpol album, and love the MGMT !

[Chris Nighman]

What a great thread! I'd just like to say thanks to Terry for spotlighting different forum members from time to time. What a great community and moderator. Also, thanks to both Bob and Terry for all the comments. I gotta admit half of what passes for a hit song now days is just mind blowing...but then again I'm sure we won't be talking about these artist 20 years from now!

[RSettee]

Fibes wrote on Mon, 30 August 2010 14:20

I still think there are plenty of great sounding records coming out today but they aren't at the top of the promo echelon.

Yeah. Even albums like last year's release by Bill Callahan were great sounding, but I don't think that it went much past his core audience or past the indie rock scene. Justin Currie's "What Is Love For" and "The Great War" sound great, but I don't think that many people heard it outside of his core audience, either.

[plughead]

Incredible read and fascinating stuff, Bob.

I totally enjoyed the clips you've provided here, but - your writing on your reflections on life from the musician/songwriter's side of the glass, to moving solely towards production is disheartening, but incredibly uplifting too.

I think it's important to remember you had some 'frivolity' and allowances for indulgence in your younger years, but - when push comes to shove, having anyone else determine your artistic course and/or direction can be devastating. I think far too many folks expect they will become successful (i.e. RICH) from their pursuits in the music biz, but in all honesty - working towards success is the harbinger of artistic defeat: the songs MUST COME FIRST - f*ck the rest - write material that resonates with you and comes from an honest place. If it's meant to be, it will be. If not, you were honest with yourself, and not a caricature of an artist...

It seems you've been able to hone your skills at production, and still have your musical savvy to bring to the groups/artists that hire you for your expertise, which IS what it is - expertise.

Thank you for chiming in and giving your enthusiastic perspective - it is very appreciated!

[Seb Riou]

RSettee wrote on Sat, 11 September 2010 00:49

Yeah. Even albums like last year's release by Bill Callahan were great sounding

And it's an understatement !
But most Smog albums are amazing

You talk about small audience of indie scene, but imagine what it's like here in France.
The most mainstream rock band can hope to reach 40 000 people, that will buy the record and go to shows.
If you play a more refined and demanding music, that goes straight down to 5 000 in the best case scenario.

So if you don't go out in Europe (and that means a different distro, touring agency), being "pro" is completely out of question.

And don't laugh, we have some great bands here

[RSettee]

Seb Riou wrote on Sat, 11 September 2010 02:59

RSettee wrote on Sat, 11 September 2010 00:49 Yeah. Even albums like last year's release by Bill Callahan were great sounding And it's an understatement ! But most Smog albums are amazing You talk about small audience of indie scene, but imagine what it's like here in France. The most mainstream rock band can hope to reach 40 000 people, that will buy the record and go to shows. If you play a more refined and demanding music, that goes straight down to 5 000 in the best case scenario. So if you don't go out in Europe (and that means a different distro, touring agency), being "pro" is completely out of question.

Yeah? I'm also thinking about Calexico albums, too--phenomenal band, songs, production (Craig Schumacher/ Wavelab Studios). But really, the average person doesn't know who they are. I remember that Calexico stayed well outside my radar for the longest time even on the indie scene, and i'd sort of felt like either I wasn't listening to recommendations, or was never recommended it by a source that I respected enough, or I was just plain ignorant until hearing "Feast Of Wire" that year when it came out.

The Sadies album this year, "Darker Circles", sounds great from a sound point of view, and the songs are excellent as well. They have some acclaim, but really, their reach doesn't spread much further than the clubs that they've been toiling in for the last +10 years, which is a shame, because they're really an outstanding band on every level. They're one of those bands that I wouldn't say that any of their albums really stand out from one another, but I think that goes back moreso to the fact that they're so consistent, and their albums always have a raw, unprocessed organicness to them that you usually don't find in albums these days.

[Seb Riou]

Even if there always was a "radio dictatorship" on business, quality and commitment seems less and less rewarding these times.
It's really a shame

And also, I feel that even if medias have reach a level of coverage never seen before, independant ones are almost unvisible.

Where are the wild web radios that set trends ?
Web show or Phone apps for indie live rock bands ?

Youtube and Facebook all around
Lame

[bob ebeling]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ4S7ViisgE

But don't put down this youtube gem!! haha

Seriously, thanks for the thanks and support and understanding and unity guys.

There's still alot of cool stuff, you just have to be like a gold-panner at the mouth of the river, and do it when the mine owners aren't around.

I found spots to stream both the Interpol and Blonde Redhead records and they are both great.

I have to check out alot of your suggestions now!

[bob ebeling]

Alright, I made a list-really.  The Sadies sounds like top condender of intriguing and Bill Callahan, but I'll check on Justin Currie, smog, and (heard of!) Calexico.

Just to share and maybe you guys are way ahead of me on these and also anybody reading this thread, if you are interested in pure sonics, I'm talking the best gear ever made, used correctly, these two albums are brilliant displays of such, but the bonus is some amazing songs too;

Earlimart 'Mentor/Tormentor' - Very Elliott Smith type stuff and recorded (in part) at his studio in Van Nuys on the Trident A-Range which he purchased from Le Studio--where they did Rush Moving Pictures and about 100 other classic albums.

This one, to me, sonically, is top ten in the world, regardless of songcraft, which is amazing too:

Rachel Yamagata "Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart"
-I don't know much about the guy that mainly engineered but I know from watching making of vids on Youtube that they chose some amazing rooms and microphones.  If this record doesn't move you and show you how cool your speakers are at the same time, check for a pulse.  And I would have never heard of her to this day except for a strange car ride home from a school for troubled kids where I was letting them record their voices on an old 4-track.  The two kids that snapped out of some stuppor and ripped the mic out of my hand and let it rip really blew everyones minds, even their close classmates...and one of the teachers had to drive me home and she popped in Yamagata Elephants and I was like, wow, there is really this reciprocal thing in the universe.  A couple hours of 'charity' work, and I arrive home with the knowledge of an artist who has really inspired me to keep searching for the next sonic place, the place beyond 1979, or within it.  Check this record out...it's one of the exceptions for sure, though I'm sure it's probably smacked onto an ATR-124 with the hand picked 251's and 47's you see in the vids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOBwWnoNI6U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anti8A_3eJQ&feature=chann el
album recording documentary

ranting...

[RSettee]

bob ebeling wrote on Sat, 11 September 2010 13:24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ4S7ViisgE But don't put down this youtube gem!! haha Seriously, thanks for the thanks and support and understanding and unity guys. There's still alot of cool stuff, you just have to be like a gold-panner at the mouth of the river, and do it when the mine owners aren't around. I found spots to stream both the Interpol and Blonde Redhead records and they are both great. I have to check out alot of your suggestions now!

Man, i'll have to buy a box set of your stuff, seriously, or have some sort of bulk multi-cd deal, heh. "We'd listen to symphonies and there would be that five seconds where the chords would change and we were after those moments" (or something like that)--i've always tried to analyze those moments of elevation, too. There's things that stand out even more in even the best songs, I think. The clips of the songs in that doc were super cool, too. Every now and then, something comes around that I think I really should have heard before--this is one of those times. "We got a four track and we were like, the Beatles". I remember getting a used Fostex 4 track in the mid 90's, and that was a holy moment....for about an hour when I realized that 4 tracks weren't enough, hahahaaa.

[Eric H.]

I love this thread.
great stories and great music being channeled.
Isn't all we're looking for?

[compasspnt]

Rachael Yamagata recorded her first album {"Happenstance") here at Compass Point, and her "making of" videos on the session were shot by none other than then-12 year old Lucas Manning. Rachel just gave him her small vidcam and said, "Go."

She is quite the talent.