Hot Summer Days But Cool In The Basement

The past few days have been extremely HOT here in the Rocky Mountain State. The basement crew that makes up the Anonymous Collective roster ramped up for some new music making to beat the heat. 

Yesterday, my daughters Roxy and Alex recorded two new songs for the upcoming Squeaky and the Futures summertime album. It was nice to sit back in the engineers chair and watch the girls work. It was our best recording session yet. Everyone was very relaxed and upbeat during the two hour session. Roxy started out by picking a beat on the keyboard and sang along with it. Then, Alex added glockenspiel and her little guitar. The girls also added some keyboards to the tune. Then, it was Alex's turn. She also picked a beat and sang with it. Then, Roxy put some electric guitar and keyboards on Alex's tune. A good day in the basement for sure.

Today, EXACTA Box recorded our 2nd single of the year. It is called "Photo Finish". We wrote it last week during practice. Got everything down sans the vocals. This is the first song recorded with the new DW kit, sounds thick. In true EXB fashion, we also tracked a wacky little b-side that was entirely off the cuff. Also, we wrote a new song called "Mama Taught Me Right". The writing process has proved to be a breath of fresh air for both myself and Anthony. We have been playing together for over a year now and continue to refine our music through different projects such as EXB and Out of Area.

EXACTA BOX will be releasing a series of singles for on-line consumption and downloading.
Please check out www.hipbonecrack.com for more information.

Thursday Afternoon and Evening

The little studio in the basement was hopping this sunny, summer afternoon. I laid the foundation for two new tracks. The first one was penned for the new Squeaky and the Futures release. I decided to use a drum machine for some of the tracking. Usually, I prefer to record all of the drum tracks myself but decided to try something different this time. I used the drum patterns from the Casio keyboard unit I have been working with. The track itself is an upbeat pop-type song. I added some bass and phantom organ to the drum track.  We will probably add some guitar later on when Tony gets back from holiday. I was able to start another track the other day but the girls were not interested in participating. The tune is a happy punk kind of thing. It will require some severe attention before it is unveiled to the anxious, waiting public.

The second tune is more of an urban beat type of thing. I used an interesting hip-hop rhythm pattern on the drum sequence. Then, added a keyboard sound that was more like the quality of a really distorted electric guitar. A heavy bass guitar joined the fray shortly thereafter. The vision for the track was to have a dense groove flowing through the whole tune. The end of the track just kind of happened. I started speeding up the beat gradually until things get frantic. A keyboard track melts into this wall of colors and notes, sounding totally psychedelic. The coda rolls on for about two minutes after the basic groove has washed away. I am thinking about making this one a Junebug production and have my friend Aaron freestyle over the tune. 

Back to the first tune, it is now called "Soccer Song". Roxy and I wrote the lyrics tonight at a late night session. The kid was up recording until 11:30 p.m.(don't tell her Mom). We got lyrics and vocals for the "Soccer Song" down. Roxy added a cool Glockenspiel vibe to the tune as well. Then, I played her the first song I recorded today and she came up with the chorus on the spot. We both did vocal tracks for this one as well(chorus only). The song has a nice hook to it and we will write the verses with Squeaky tomorrow sometime. Squeaks will do her vocal parts soon as well for these tunes. All in all, a productive day at I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement studios.

Squeaky and the Futures - Kick Off Second Album Sessions

We began official work on the new Squeaky and the Futures album today. We tracked a new song today called "Summertime Now". The song contains a drum machine, bass, organ, acoustic guitar and 4 vocal tracks. We experimented with running some of the vocal tracks through the p.a. to get a rich reverb-type sound. The whole song took about a hour to write and record. Roxy, Alex and I collaborated on the lyrics. It was a fun afternoon and the girls enjoyed singing. They especially enjoyed doing the la-la-la-la back-ups.

The album theme was also discussed. We all agree that the album will be summertime in theme and feel. Summer is the concept and a good one at that. Most of the songs will be joined under this concept. We also have set a goal to finish the album before the girls go back to school. This project will be an organic extension of our first release. Looking forward to writing and recording the bulk of the project ahead of us.

Papa Greno