Weekly Update - February 22nd - 28th - Variety

This past week proved to be a musically diverse one and I can't help but enjoy the wide variety of musical adventures I get to have each week.

I worked Monday and taught a lesson to my Decorah student on my way home.  We started work on his first song with a basic progression.  After that we are planning to add some lead guitar licks to the intro and then we can start brainstorming vocal melodies.  The more I give lessons, the more I enjoy them.

Tuesday I worked and did not get much time for music besides some vocal practice in the car on my afternoon commute and some brief drumming when I got home.

Wednesday I had the day off and spent a good portion of the day working on a new song entitled "The Will of the People" that is slowly but surely coming together, although I am still struggling with the timing changes between the sections.  Wednesday evening was the second rehearsal with the full Brahman Shaman electric trio with Jaran Carson on drums and Joe Dawson on bass.  It has been a lot of fun to play with these guys.  We are just focusing on ten songs for now for our first official performance as the trio March 20th at the Root Note with Michelle Lynn & Hyphon.

Thursday I worked, but Joe Dawson was over at about 5 and finished up main vocal tracks for another of the 4 songs he is working, as well as adding more background vocals to "Of Devil's & Beasts".  The material is really starting to sound good as Joe has a really cool voice that blends nicely with some great chord progressions.  Hopefully a couple more sessions of tracking and we should be close to the mixing stage.   After Joe left I headed down to Del's to play drums for Nick Shattuck's "Chorus & Verse" CD release party.  The show was a lot of fun and the 4 hours of playing flew by much quicker than expected.  Having recorded and produced "Chorus & Verse" at Ghost in My House Studio it was pretty cool to see the finished product and I am definitely glad both Nick and his fans are digging the sound of the record.

I tried to sleep in Friday after a late night on Thursday, but couldn't make it much past 8AM.  Spent most of the day in Ghost in My House Studio doing more reorganizing and arranging of gear as well as doing some experiments that involve me singing and playing guitar while playing drums.  This proves to be very difficult but also very rewarding when you can get a good kick/hi-hat groove going.

Saturday was again mostly spent running errands and doing home improvement projects...  I also found out that "Youth", a Brahman Shaman song from the second disc of the recently released Animist double-album will be featured on La Crosse's own Z93.3 radio station as part of their weekly "Play it or Hate it" radio show.  I should have more info for you on that soon.

Sunday was mostly spent cleaning and relaxing before the next week.  However, I did teach a fun lesson around noon.

Until next time, check out www.brahmanshaman.com for the lastest news and upcoming shows!

Weekly Update - February 15th - February 21st - Progress

This past week ended up being very productive and enjoyable.  The snow on Monday was light enough that I could still teach my Decorah lesson.  I am starting to understand why people like to teach because it is very rewarding to help someone learn how to do something they could not do before, especially when you can see the creative spark in their eyes.

Tuesday was relatively uneventful.  I had the day off on Wednesday and I spent the morning toiling away on new ideas.  I also completed the mixing and mastering of Each & Every Night, a great song from the upcoming Brillant Beast debut album.  Joe Dawson came by the studio in the evening and finalized bass tracks on a couple of the songs.  The project is really coming together nicely and I am anxious to hear the completed songs once we start on vocals.

Thursday I worked and then had a great Brahman Shaman rehearsal in the evening with Jaran on drums and new addition Joe Dawson on Bass.  Something about the three piece feels right and it is really nice having that low end support for the songs.  The first show with the three of us will be March 20th at the Root Note in La Crosse, WI with Michelle Lynn & Hyphon.

The new issue of Second Supper came out on Thursday as well, which featured a Nick Shattuck cover story which includes some very kind words about yours truly relating to the recording of his debut album at Ghost in My House Studio. Check it out here.  I am excited to see the physical copies of Nick's album this week and looking forward to drumming for him at his first CD release show, Thursday February 25th at Del's Bar in La Crosse.

Friday I headed up to Minneapolis in the morning and successfully sold a guitar, that was not getting enough use, through Craigslist without getting killed.  I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with my good friend and Driftless Music founder Adam Wiltgen.  The whether was nice enough for a great walk into downtown St. Paul and we also had enough time to jam on some of Adam's songs which are evolving nicely and I am hoping I have the opportunity to record.

Friday evening I headed down to the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis for the Driftless Music Showcase kickoff event.  The show went great and I had the opportunity to play alongside a number of great acts including Kasey McKee, Akai, Talking Tree and The Brillant Beast.

Joe Dawson was back at Ghost in My House Studio on Saturday morning and he put in a solid days work getting the guitar doubling done on most of the tracks as well as a great lead vocal and some really cool background vox on one of the tracks as well.  Now that we are getting closer to done and I am hearing the vocals I am getting even more excited about Joe's EP.  You should all have the opportunity to hear it in a couple of months or sooner.

Sunday was mostly spent cleaning, getting groceries, home improvement etc..  In the afternoon I had fun teaching a lesson and my student really enjoyed jamming his blues riff while I played the drums.  What can I say, playing music is fun!

Weekly Update - February 8th - February 14th

This past week was a surprisingly quiet one at Ghost in My House Studio.  I wasn't able to teach my Monday lesson in Decorah because the snow-storm started early and made me want to get on the road home before dark.

The snow continued through Tuesday forcing me to stay home from work.  Besides a fair amount of shoveling I continued working on new songs and spent a portion of the day cleaning and reorganizing the studio. With such a small space, every items needs to have a place.

I was back at work Wednesday and only got a little time in the evening to work on some new song ideas.

Thursday was spent working as well and I headed over to Blooming Grounds in Winona to perform a solo-acoustic set with Adja Gildersleve and Corey Koehler.  The show went pretty well, there is no P.A. there and it is actually pretty fun to play directly to a small audience with no amplification, seems a little more relate-able somehow and the audience can hear the lyrics better.

Friday I had the day off and thus had some time to mix "Each & Every Night", from the forthcoming Brillant Beast debut album.  Also, finished up mastering the songs I have so far for that project.  In the afternoon I spent a little time working on a bizarre video to promote Animist that is viewable below.



My wife and I spent the whole day Saturday installing some laminate floor in the upstairs bedroom.  It came out good but we have been sore for the last couple of days.

Besides giving a lesson Sunday afternoon, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  Spent the majority of it recovering from the flooring project and hanging out with the wife.

Weekly Update - February 1st - February 7th - Ramping Up

After having a nice break to recharge the musical batteries last week this week was a little busier and a good warm-up for a musically active February and a very busy March.

Monday - Was the official release date of my new double-album, Animist.  The album is available directly from me, at Dave's Guitar Shop, Deaf Ear Records, Kephart's Music, iTunes, Amazon etc...  If you are going to download the album I would recommend getting it directly from me as it is cheaper, includes lyrics in pdf format and album artwork in jpeg format.  You can also download in high quality Wave or Flac formats as well. The day went well and I had another fun lesson with my Decorah guitar student.  He is coming along really well so I think we will start trying to help the young rocker pen some songs of his own next week.

Tuesday - Jaran Carson was over again for another rehearsal in preparation for the Friday show at JB's with Porcupine.  Now that Jaran has become more familiar with the songs and we are getting more used to playing together we are having a lot more fun.

Wednesday - Fortunately I had the day off of work so I was able to spend most of it working on a new song, Reactions Inertia.  The track has a pretty 80's techno song to it, but I tried it with just acoustic guitar and drums and I like the keyboard version better.  Sort of learning on the keyboard as I go so it should be interesting to see what happens with it once it is more developed.  Ended up finding some time to post the first in a series of blogs entitled "Thoughts from Ghost in My House Studio" regarding the concept of less is more. Check it out at Driftless Music by clicking here.

Thursday - After work I worked on Reaction's Inertia some more but actually ended up coming with part of new song, The Will of The People and spend most of the rest of the evening working on that.

Friday - Got some time to work on mastering about half the tracks from The Brilliant Beast's debut album.  The material is really cool and I am looking forward to getting the rest of the tracks finalized.  Found some time in the afternoon to post a another blog from the "Thoughts from Ghost in My House Studio" series that explains some of the concepts of audio mastering and dynamic range.  Check it out by clicking here.

Performed a 10 song set of Brahman Shaman songs with Jaran at JB's Speakeasy opening for Porcupine and Dream 13.  The show went well and we had a lot of fun.  Porcupine killed it, one of the best shows I have ever seen of their's and they just keep getting better and better.  I highly recommend taking the time to give those guys a listen.  Dream 13 followed Porcupine and it is always a blast to watch Jeff Sherin play guitar, I affectionately refer to him as Honky Hendrix.

Saturday - Joe Dawson was over in the morning and he got bass and acoustic guitar tracks done for 2 of the 4 songs he is currently working on.  The material is sounding really good and I am looking forward to hearing it with vocals soon.

Sunday - I made the trek over to Rochester in the morning to help my good friend and Rearview Mirror band-mate Jason Ptacek get his home recording set-up working correctly.  It was good to see him, he played me some great riffs and I am really looking forward to hearing some of his new ideas recorded.

Until next week....

BRAHMAN SHAMAN

Weekly Update - January 25th - 31st - A Break

The last week in January was relatively quiet at Ghost in My House Studio.  This was actually a nice break after a few busy weeks completing Nick Shattuck's new album, Chorus & Verse.  Nick has posted a handful of songs from the record on his Myspace, check them out by clicking here.

On Monday the weather was a bit unpleasant so I didn't end up doing my Decorah lesson, just spent extra time carefully driving home from work.

On Tuesday, Wigglepuppy drummer Jaran Carson came over for another rehearsal in preparation for our upcoming show on February 5th at JB's Speakeasy in La Crosse, WI with Porcupine, Dream 13 & ConQueso. I am really looking forward to this show and have really been enjoying Jaran and I getting more comfortable playing together now that we have had a couple of shows and few practices.

On Wednesday the physical copies of Animist arrived, so I spent a majority of the day distributing those to retailers and mailing out promotional copies.  For more info on that check out last week's blog post "Animist gets Physical".  I also received the additional external hard-drive I ordered for the studio and am happy to say that I am now double-backed up.

Thursday was spent working and Friday was mostly spent taking a continuing education test in Rochester.  I did get some time in the afternoon to test out some new kick drum beaters I ordered and am really preferring the attack of the wood-beater at this point, haven't had a chance to record with it yet though.  I also had time to continue working on a new song entitled Reactions Inertia.  I can't decide if I should do it on guitar or the Casio keyboard as I do want to force myself to branch out musically as much as possible for the next record.

Saturday and Sunday were spent doing errands, chores and working on home improvement projects.

Balance is key to an enjoyable life and this week was a nice break from studio work that has allowed me some time to rest my ears and plot the next project.

Less Is More

Less is more.  The less we have of some-thing the more we enjoy it. Whether that thing be music, relationships, food, alcohol etc... Contrast is the spice of our corporeal reality.

In our youth the value of a $ is much higher than in our adult life. Aging not only changes our value systems but also changes what we value.

I recently sold all my cds (those in good enough condition for re-sale) to the local Deaf Ear Records.  I have about thirty cds left that didn't go to Deaf Ear or Goodwill.  I got rid of the cds because the mp3 revolution reduced their use.   Ironically, since I got rid of the majority of my cds I have actually been listening to cds more often.  Because I have less choices it is easier to make a choice.  I have rediscovered the value of the cd by having less of them.

The mp3, ipod, web 2.0 revolution has altered our experience of music in amazing ways.  One now has the ability to store hundreds of albums worth of music in a handheld device, purchase music online and discover and enjoy millions of artists from around the world.  In other words there is more music available, more ways to hear it and more ways to store it for later listening.  This "more" has altered our perception and enjoyment of music.

The iPod and similar devices are great tools for musicians.  The ability to store and have ready access to the entire catalog of music I have written all on one device is very useful.  Besides my own music, I have hundreds of my favorite songs and albums on my ipod.  While very convenient, this has reduced the value of any one album, artist or song because there is always more to listen to.  For example, I often find myself downloading a new album I am interested in, loading it on the ipod, I will listen to it once, but, if it doesn't grab me right away it inevitably becomes lost amongst the hundreds of albums already on the ipod as I choose something more familiar.

Any independent musician would be a fool not to embrace the web for networking and promotional reasons...

January 27th - Animist gets Physical

The physical copies of my new double-album, Animist, have arrived.  I had been checking the FedEx tracking updates daily since the limited run of 100 copies shipped last Thursday, so I decided to call and have them hold the package at the nearest FedEx.  I awoke early this morning (5:15am) from an anxious sleep, not unlike a child on Christmas morning, and rushed to the FedEx center in Holmen, WI where the box was waiting.

I am really happy with how the package turned out, thanks to the finding of Ernst Haeckel's old illustrations online.  The package is a 4-panel eco-wallet that folds open to reveal a disc on each side.  I spent most of the rest of the day mailing out some promotional copies and dropping them off at a couple of retailers in La Crosse, WI.

As of right now, Animist is available at:
Deaf Ear Records in La Crosse, WI
Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse, WI
Kephart's Music in Decorah, IA
or directly through me at www.brahmanshaman.com.