Autumn Update...

So, I didn't post any new content all summer. That's pretty much because the whole project has flopped due to lack of interest. But the dream never dies, so here's how me and the gang have been wasting our time and money!

I bought a pearl blue Hohner electric guitar that is the sexiest thing I own. Although I continue to practice music and song writing daily, the death of our beloved four-track has ground all production to a halt. I also have picked up bongos and new pan flutes to round out the natural sound.

Alex bought Logic, the fancy edition, and a new MIDI controller. What that means is: he now has more synthesizer programs with more depth than he knows what to do with. Alex and I still jam together a few times a week, but nothing is recorded or performed live. Also, one of the keys broke off his MicroKORG which is really sad.

Riley has my old Japanese, humbucker electric which he has detuned beyond all recognition and plays through the delay devices that Adam built. I think he fixed his 'jo also, so I'm sure roots and blues are still on the menu.

Adam moved to Maine. I have no idea if he's still producing anything, but he bought me a present at a garage sale and that's nothing to shit at.

OKAY So, maybe we don't take this stuff seriously enough to ever be successful, or even have our friends and girlfriends know our songs. And maybe I haven't performed on stage in two years, but isn't the desire to do something at least a step in the right direction towards accomplishment?

No.

...Music Maps 2

After the debut 10 releases, we'll put the cassette to rest in order to dive deep into the primordial ooze of new media. The musical map program has taken on some new dimension. Songs expressing a landscape will serve as points on a route, they manifest as expressionist loops, and an external variable (possibly your browser navigation) causes you to progress through the territory.

Different albums are different countries in our super continent. Each nation's traditions is diffused into our fantasy world on the internet- replacing the real world with metaphorical "like" parts. As we continue the adventure of songwriting in the Sabertooth Tiger studios, we can leave a cartographic record of the realms we visit.

The philosophy behind our song writing method is expressed on the debut tapes. Red is Roseville tells us that the album is really a place, and music will always be something that should be accepted as scenery. An artist is only a phase, an interchangeable avatar who ebbs on the flow of a popular current. And music? A machine:  Chomsky-esque linguistic programming of preliterate man, vestigial circuits of expression leftover from an animal-pastoral lifestyle.

Some examples of mytheme setting music that we've written in the last week include a windmill and a highway.

...Musical Maps

The last few weeks in the studio have been a combination of hard rumination about Pokemon and the design of our new music format. If you aren't familiar with our instrumentals style yet it's very sweeping, expressionist scoring that imbues the listener with the cinematic feeling of flying over exotic locales. It's essentially landscape painting with music.

But why bother putting the new sound on tape? Why bother burning CDs? We all know that the future of music is live streaming from the web. That's why our next album will be a streaming only release. Listening to the album will be as easy as pulling up a flash website of a map of our fantasy realm. The different pieces will represent the different landforms, and the movements within them are representative of the actions one would perform in that terrain. But don't think about your elementary school biome unit, think more like Zelda dungeons.

We've written a few movements of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, a whispy wood, and an endless void inside the internal organs of a dragon. Expect mountains, villages, castles, factories, spaceships, and the nest of an evil eagle to present in the final album.

Depending on how easily we learn flash animation there will be looping visualizers that correspond to each track on the map. Essentially this is video game that you don't press any buttons to play. This should get nerds really creamed up, and hipsters take note: many of our instruments are custom made and never before seen so don't expect a Playstation Final Fantasy soundtrack.

Here's something.

...Red is Roseville 3

The single Shorty Lo is a pretty ditty. I wrote it whilst walking through the (now through its destruction) mythical paths and trees. There's some graffiti that comprises the chorus, and a description of the natural wonder that makes up the verse. I have a cute voice that's warm over the bright and mellow guitar tracks.

SHORTY LO on MySpacesister

Also, I have a special news bit. We found the new sound! We're in the process of mixing it down from it's original form but let's just say it's ground breaking and it'll change the way you think about the Ancient Egyptians forever!

New 'space.

Myspace is like facebook but with slightly less moms. We've been recording stuff on tape and now it's stuff on a computer. And it can be on your computer too!

http://www.myspace.com/sabertoothtigertapes

...Red is Roseville 2

One of the nice things about the Sabertooth Tiger vision of what defines an album is the ability to keep bringing new singles into focus and re-imagine the moods and the themes of the sense of time and place that encompasses. One song on Red is Roseville that teaches that is the aptly named "Theme" a three movement piece that begins with a fast paced party melody (originally written at a party) which parlays into an acoustic lullaby and ends in a visceral roar of folk-fanfare emotion.

This song has been years in the making and encompasses some lyrics and melodies that were written when I first picked up a mandolin. Back then I wasn't dactyl enough to play what was in my trance, although now it's second nature. Three distinct, infectious melodies; hooks to get hooked on and whistle all day long.

Theme is the black sheep track on the album. Not an instrumental, not a lyrical piece in the sense of the folk songs and raps. Theme is a powerful pop-concoction, but it's long and atypical. It's the new pop music. If you're putting the effort into downloading a single song, you need one that can hold your attention span for at least the duration of the buffer. So, it's an amalgam --pastiche one could even say, not a new idea by any means but definitely one overdue for resurgence. Bam bam bam.

...Red is Roseville

Today I put the finishing touches on the least impressive website you've ever seen. But I think the content speaks for itself. I hope you like websites that contain rap lyrics with html coding.

One of the albums in production that it's worth doting on for today's post is called Red is Roseville. The singles are called "Red is Right" and "An Album's a Place". The overarching themes of the lyrical and narrative content come in two pills: a) songs about the essential skills and methods involved in music production and b) songs that serve as driving directions and tour logs of Roseville and the metro.

Although the "Red is Right" single provides the trademark noise and synthesizer throb of it's composers, the overall album presents a much more ethereal mood and songs like "Silent Cone" and "An Albums a Place" are much folksier fair than one hears on the Zoo Puma/Vampiger series. Classical nylon guitar flourishes abound and mellow pipes waver through the glissando transcendence in the peaceful snapshot of suburban sobriety.

Here's some lyrics:
No we're not far away, but the thresholds hold/
We put the bikes away when airs get cold/
The bus routes lonely- the stops barely told/
Cubits and cubicles climb the frost skyline-/
We're always waiting for the face to explode/
Like video-game retreats to reload/
I'm only a couple miles east on this road/
White lines to trace the spills where salt melts the ice-/

Glitter in the fall/ Data streams into the storm sewers and rooftops/ Cinderella at the ball/ The city answers the call/ Now we wait for them at bars, cafes, and pawn shops/

I left the rap out so that you have to get the tape.

Firsties

Alright. I decided to make myself a little bit more focused in getting my project off the ground through blogging. To think, if I heard myself say that six years ago I'd probably shudder. Either way, this blog is to serve the purpose of sharing, promoting, and organizing the Sabertooth Tiger Tapes Distro.

Within the month we'll be launching a simple html website with links to download-able and playable versions of some free digital singles as well as an option to purchase tapes via PayPal or by sending money in the mail. Singles are representative of the polished final piece, and tapes are the formative demos, jazz, and noise that create the inspiration for the singles.

We also want to start filming full length music video tapes for distribution within the forseeable future. There is enough pre-created content to keep the website capable of daily updates of art, writing, drawing, and video. I hope you'll enjoy following the process with me as I turn my dream of helping people make and hear their own simple music a reality.