Indaba River Cuomo Remix Oppurtunity

Hello gents. You may want to check this out. Song structure is really easy to figure out and fun to mess around with. You could also win some pretty sweet stuff. Summer's almost over :(

Not a whole lot going on Hangout Collective-wise recently, hope to get some things brewing soon, and I hope some others are doing the same. Nick did add a nice little guitar part on Central America last week(Sorry for slacking on putting this up Nick!). This song is in bits and pieces right now, but I like everyones ideas and where it is headed. Phil is working on mixing this one up and putting some structure to it, but I know was having some computer issues, so maybe I'll take a crack at it.

I think I may have found a new home to host our files. Dropbox I just downloaded it and will mess with it a bit and see if it's what I'm looking for, but it's looking pretty good.

Looks like some Hangouters have been busy with their own projects lately which is always nice to see, hope they don't mind my linking; Ryan and John a.k.a. Glad Hearts have finished up their new album and have a few songs up here. And also a "Making of..." video here with some cameos by yours truly. Looks like some Mandibles spent a snow day working on this little doozy. And JJ and his two man band The Local Trust have just finished mixing a track from an upcoming EP, click below to check it out.

The Local Trust - Footsteps by Hangout Collective

Came across an interesting blog recently, Music Machinery. Billed as a "music technology" blog, it is pretty much exactly that, check out todays post on click tracks. They used Echo Nest Remix which, at a glance, is a little over my head, but something cool to check out when I get some downtime.

And finally, Robert Smith of The Cure has been letting his feelings known about Radiohead and their release stylings of In Rainbows. Friday, then again today.

new trax

actually, the title for this post is a little misleading. Both these things are a bit older but I never did anything with them for one reason or another. There is no kind of cohesiveness to them either. I'd be obliged to anyone's additions, or even a take in a new direction. Jimmy Valentine kindly extended an invite so I would like to give it a go.
Time is tight, but I will do my best to add to others tracks as well. I hope I don't suck. I'll only post if my additions seem like they add something. I also play the ukelele in case anyone is dying to have some uke on their stuff. It's not like the market is ripe for uke players these days.

Anyway ... I'm J.J. Hope these cuts do something in the way of making you want to add something to them.

http://hangoutcollective.bandcamp.com/

by the way ... Jimmy, you play the Stylophone? You animal.
You ever see one of these? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMw38s1ZRtU&feature=related
They are pretty dope.

I just got a Kaosspad and I haven't slept much since getting it. Thing is an addiction more than just something to mess around on.

I'm out.

Bleeding Kansas

Ok, we got updates!

Dano did some more work on Central America, and JJ uploaded a new tune called Nights in Armor. He warned me that it wasn't done to a click, so keep that in mind, maybe ripe for chopping up and looping. I dig the riffs, has a total classic rock vibe to it, I'd love to hear some real drums on that one.

I did some remixing on Casio Tango and added a few stylophone lines that make everything sound out of tune and a little wild and sloppy, but I kinda like it! I also added some more guitar to Pats tune. This one totally makes me think of the Wild West or something, so I renamed it "Bleeding Kansas". Hope you don't mind Pat!

Everything is uploaded so go enjoy yourself some! http://hangoutcollective.bandcamp.com/

I'm psyched about the progress here, it's been less than 2 weeks since the first contribution and we already have 4 songs in the works, can't wait to hear more. For everyone who hasn't uploaded yet, where you at?!

Central America

A new version of Central America is up over at the bandcamp site. Phil added some more nice sounding guitar parts. Again, if anyone wants the raw files to any of the songs, let it be known. Dan uploaded the raw files to Casio Tango, so if anyone wants to brave the flashy ads on Sendspace - do so here!!

Move along

Just some quick updates before we kick off this (hopefully for you) extended weekend: Visit the bandcamp site to check out the latest. A brand spanking new track from Pat, and Dano added some ambiance to Central America. My Presidents Day is looking like I'll have some time to be doing some recording so hopefully something will weasel its way through here. I've been quite the creative loafer recently. Besides Hangout Collective I've recently started two new projects that have hit the ground running(what a perfect jinx I've set up for myself!), I also have a third that has been lying dormant for about 2 years but is itchin to get back going. I'm sure once baseball starts up and the weather lends itself to some more outside, this will all slow down but for now I'm not complaining.

I came across this quote the other day by Gary Numan, apparently from a Wired interview:

"Pop style has stopped happening. Style used to be, in part, a record of the technological limitations of the media of each period. The sound of the Beatles was the sound of what you could do if you pushed a '60's-era recording studio absolutely as far as it would go. Artists long for limitations: excessive freedom casts us into a vacuum. That is why "vintage" synthesizers are hotter right now than more flexible and powerful machines. Digital artists also face constraints in their tools, of course, but often these constraints are so distant, scattered and rapidly changing that they can't be pushed against in a sustained way."

Then someone in the comments quoted Geddy Lee with the phrase "option anxiety".

I thought they were pretty cool, embrace your limitations!

If you are still ye of little inspiration, there's always Oblique Strategies

I added some links on the right ---> if you are the type to subscribe to internet sitez, add this one to stay up to date. I prefer Google Reader and so far I am the only subscriber, so hit that up.

Don't back down, you gota be a little nuts

I will admit right here, right goddamn now that I am a Beach Boys fan. My fan-dom has seen many stages. From my Mom telling me about her high school boyfriend dedicating God Only Knows to her, to actually listening to Sloop John B for the first time, to going to see "them" in New Brunswick with The Bingz, to my cousin and 2 friends singing "Wouldn't It Be Nice" at a karaoke place to me on my 18th birthday in Myrtle Beach, SC, to Wendy, to finally spending time with Pet Sounds, to my girl turning me onto a song(I dare you not to wiggle)I had never actually payed attention to before(which we eventually had played at our wedding), I have been a fan. Sure, there have been some down times. I gave up completely on them and was strictly a Beatles man(ok not the Beatles, but have I shown you this yet?!), who could blame me, but at the end of the day, The Beach Boys are fucking great. There are a bunch of videos up with a bit of insight into the recording of Pet Sounds. Click it here. I love watching this type of shit for any band, but it's great to see the Beach Boys.

Linking of YouTube videos, did you know you can add "&fmt=18" to the end of a link on YouTube videos, and get hi-res/stereo versions of the same videos? Try it.

Those videos remind me of a show I've been watching a show on VH1 Classic about "Classic Albums" called Classic Albums. Basically a band, x amount of years later, talking about a record they recorded, and they'll usually be sitting behind a mixing board and break out the mixes and give you snippets of stuff soloed or sometimes give you an original demo and talk about how the song came to be. It's pretty cool, but it's hardly on. Looking on that wiki link, there are alot more I need to watch, but every one I have caught so far has been pretty cool.