Friday, July 24, 2009

From The Pelican's Beak


I gave the Glass Cube recording studio's website a little refresher; text and links for now, more very soon. I particularly recommend checking it out for the graphics by John Minardi. Otherwise, for now, it's basically the "website" version of this site's sidebar.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Summerberry Jam

Summertime in Europe means lots of music festivals, album releases, pre-release listening parties, and friends from CA touring over here. Because I just moved here in June, I haven't yet wrangled a core crew of musicians to play with. That, coupled with being in the middle of the European musical frenzy of summer, means I've been feeling sentimental for those past California summers spent playing outdoor concerts, recording on lazy Sunday afternoons, and meeting up with friends at a barbeque after. And I miss the jams; having the right group of bros, and the shared will to wander into uncharted musical forests, deep blue waters, or outer galaxies. Here are a few videos: one for the jamming, two for the vibe, and three for the summer of 2005.



The masterful Mulatu and a host of groove masons. This one really tightens up around 2:47.


Audio paradise...



Brown Rainbow: my old band with Dan Judd and Sam Grawe. It was kind of a pick-up band at first, then we ended up playing a season of great shows. Those two are now Windsurf, one album and a few singles deep. There has been talk of a BR recording session at Glass Cube in Mexico. Yet to be confirmed.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Corners of the Cube


Where one chills during mid-session breaks. Well, one of the places...


The desk in the control room, with the first gear drop. (Doesn't everyone need an eight channel Mackie now and again?)


The magic of glass bricks. These shells were soon dwarfed by a mountain of picks, adaptors, shakers, and Pacificos.


Simply hanging.


Backpacker in repose.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Ye Olde Beginnings, Fall 2007

I found a couple ghost posts from almost two years ago that I did on my wife's blog; also some great portraits she did of WBA. Below are some photos of the protean Cube. It was, indeed, an incredible Fall: days of carpentry and masonry, taco truck in the driveway at 11am everyday, listening to the WBA workshop the new songs in the living room, waves at dawn and then at dusk.
ghost post 1
ghost post 2
Rubi WBA portraits

Let the sun shine in


Seamless...


Quadruple window view. Sgarzi looking "tan".


Nentwig in the attic


Math: 1 satellite dish plus 1 skilsaw = 2 moveable walls for sound separation.

Next time, photos of the studio as it is now...

Saturday, July 4, 2009

White Noise




Before any more time goes by, and before I talk about anything else, I need to mention the album, Rules, by the quartet, Whitest Boy Alive. It is out now, and it is the first album recorded at Glass Cube, my recording studio in Nayarit, Mexico. They helped tremendously in the construction of the studio, and I am very proud to have been involved in the creation of such a great record. Regardless of my personal ties to the album, I think it's one of the best to come out in recent times; it's like hearing the late-seventies Police play 90's house music on a tropical jungle beach, while Ice Cube cruises by with a metal detector. Or something. Here's raising a glass of tequila reposado to Erlend, Marcin, Maschat, and Daniel: well done, Amigos!

Drawing by Geoff McFetridge
Photo by Danielle Rubi