Life in Four Bottles

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RPM Challenge

A third piece for this year's album is up. This one is not quite finished, needing some kind of lead part over the top. It will either be a vocal part or a lead instrument, probably trumpet. Regardless, here it is, as it is.

As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

RPM Challenge

The second "finished" piece for the RPM Challenge is in the can. Here is a direct link to the mp3.

As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

a picture

rpm song

This is the first piece for this year's RPM Challenge album that I am going to set aside as "finished." It is slightly possible that sampled spoken voices might be added later but I doubt it. So far this piece is untitled.

www.psychicreform.com/rpm09/090205.mp3

RPM Challenge

Every February Wired magazine runs this thing called the RPM Challenge. This is the third year* that IFPR has taken the challenge which is to write and record an album in 28 days. They define "album" as 35 minutes or ten songs.

This year is no exception for IFPR. We at IFPR Studios are working non-stop to bring you another CD of sonic wonderfulness. What is exceptional is that I will be doing two albums for the RPM Challenge this year.

One will be the IFPR album which it appears will be mostly instrumental this time around which really is a return to IFPR's roots, be they whatever they may be. I am a bit uncomfortable releasing pop sounds under the IFPR moniker as most IFPR material is of a more ambient/IDM/jazz-ish ilk and this album feels like it will be a return to this style.

The other album will be by the band Psychotronic Jug Band which is a reunion of myself with Rick Sinai and Boo LaCrosse. We played together and wrote songs together a lot in New Orleans, performing as Boo LaCrosse and the Psychotronic Jug Band. Our various bands played shows together, we sat in with one another, dominated open mic nights, and like that. Weekend after next my old friends are arriving in Louisville from N.O. and Atlanta to spend four days writing and recording music and I have no idea what to expect the results will be. But some pretty great things will come of it, I'm sure of that.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

*The first two RPM Challenge albums were I Have Electric Head and The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Ice Storm Pictures

The weather hasn't been kind to Louisville the last few months. We had the awful windstorm from Hurricane Ike that destroyed trees and power lines and now we have this amazing ice storm hit us. Conditions here are nowhere near as bad as far western Kentucky where they had nothing but freezing rain for an entire night and day. We had a little freezing rain followed by several inches of snow followed by freezing rain leaving around 3/4 of an inch of ice coating everything while in west KY they had around double that much ice (hard to fathom the weight of it). Trees are snapped, bent, and broken, power, phone, and cable lines fell under their own weight as well as falling limbs, and many streets and most sidewalks are solid ice. Today we are getting a big thaw with the temperatures in the sun approaching 60 degrees but I just wonder how much will be left tonight to re-freeze for tomorrow.

I took a LOT of pictures because it's been absolutely beautiful despite the tragedy of it. Below are a few select pictures.












For more pictures you can check my Flickr page where you will find these sets:
1-27-09
1-28-09
1-29-09
1-30-09
1-31-09