The Hollow Threads

I know it has been mostly quiet here lately.  I have been very busy.  I’ve been composing, recording, and performing a lot.  In March I performed at the SXSW music festival with Patrick Joseph.  It was an awesome experience and a great time!  And now…

I can finally share the project I have been working on for over a year and a half:  

The Hollow Threads

 

You can download a free 3 song sample of the album ahead of its release here:

thehollowthreads.com/sampledownload

Click on “Sample Download” and enter the password “threads”

This project is very close to me, and I’m very excited to be sharing it with everyone.  If you like what you hear, please share it with friends that you think might enjoy it!  

We are very lucky to have some amazing friends helping us on this album.  Including my good friend Patrick Joseph.  He helped with tracking of the album, provided some amazing guest vocals, and co-wrote the song Wide Awake with us.  

You can find and connect with us all over the web:

Facebook

Twitter

Soundcloud

ReverbNation

We are a completely independent band.  These songs are self-produced, and self-funded.  So if you enjoy what you hear, please help us out!  “Like” our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and share our free download with your friends!  Independent artists today have more power than ever before, but this also means that there are a lot more artists sharing their music.  This means we rely heavily on our friends and family to share our music and help spread the word.  Support independent artists!

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Relics is here!

I posted yesterday about Relics being released very soon. Turns out very soon was a day later! Here is the EP in digital form, available as a pre-release free download. http://patrickjosephmusic.com/freestuff.cfm

Patrick and I have been playing these versions of his songs live since about January of this year. We spend a lot of time recording these songs, and Patrick has spent even more time mixing them and making them sound great for the release! I’m very excited to be sharing this music with everyone, and I hope you enjoy it!

New music!

I’ve been working on new music for quite a while now. It is all in its final stages, and will be released soon!

Here is the first taste of the EP Relics coming out soon…the acoustic version of Patrick’s song “Don’t Believe It.”

And in case you haven’t already, check out the original version of “Don’t Believe It” from the album Antiques.

New video…Arsonist Blues!

If you follow this site regularly, you know that I frequently work with my good friend Patrick Joseph on both music and videos to accompany that music. Patrick is an immensely talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, and is a great collaborator. We have been working together for a little over a year now, and it has been an incredibly rewarding creative outlet for me as a guitarist. Working with a singer/songwriter can sometimes be a challenge. Artists typically have a very clear, concise idea of how they would like their songs to sound. Oftentimes this results in quite a limited and narrow creative space to occupy as a guitarist. Of course, there is good reason for these limitations as many artists spend hours and hours obsessing over how to make a song the best it can possibly be, and the last thing they want is for some crazy guitarist to come in and try to re-invent their wheel.

Patrick works the same way: spending hours and hours writing and recording, perfecting each and every note and lyric before a song can be deemed “complete.” The big difference is Patrick is willing to work as a collaborator as well. He allows me a lot of creative freedom. I am not held down by a predetermined notion of what a guitar player should or should not bring to his music. I create my own guitar parts, but more importantly, I can stretch and explore sonic territory atypical of the guitar. I can occupy space that might normally be occupied by a keyboard or synthesizer, or create atmospheric/ambient electronic sounds that make people (I hope) listen twice when they see acoustic guitars.

This is territory I am very fond of exploring as a guitarist, and it is also what makes working with Patrick such a rewarding experience. My creative goals of exploring new and/or different sounds are fully satisfied, and I benefit/learn from working and performing with a talented singer/songwriter.

This video is a departure from our typical do-it-yourself approach, and was shot by our friend, and amazing photographer/videographer, JP Agustin.

Arsonist Blues is from Relics, our upcoming EP of re-imagined versions of songs from Patrick’s debut album Antiques. Our covers EP is also in the works as well as many other projects that will be unveiled very soon!

Stay tuned!

Recent studio session photos

I’ve been working hard recently on recording and writing new music. Patrick Joseph and I are nearly done with our acoustic EP “Relics,” and have been hard at work on our cover EP “Stranger’s Shoes.” Recently, during one of our recording sessions, JP Agustin (a very talented photographer and friend of mine) came in to document a bit of the process.

There is new music on the way, and I’m very excited to share it!

Stay tuned…

Feeling Good (Nina Simone cover)

Finally…some new music to share! It’s been a while, but I have been hard at work writing and recording new music, and playing shows in and around LA. My good friend and collaborator Patrick Joseph and I shot this video of us recording a slightly different take on the classic Feeling Good. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please share it with everyone you think might enjoy it too!

This cover (and our previous cover of Radiohead’s Idioteque) are a pretty good sample of what our live show sounds like…so…if you are in LA, we have a show coming up next Friday at Room 5 at 11pm!

Additionally, Patrick and I are excited to be releasing an EP of covers entitled Stranger’s Shoes this summer. It will include our previous covers along with some new ones, and there will be a video to go along with each one.

I have other music in the works as well. Nearing completion, and I’m very excited to share that with everyone. So stay tuned!

Free music!!

My friend and collaborator Patrick Joseph is giving away free downloads of his debut album “Antiques” all month long! Check out the cool video above, and then go to http://www.patrickjoseph.com/home.cfm and download the album.

Vote for Patrick Joseph!

My good friend and collaborator, Patrick Joseph, is one of the artists on the Deli LA’s emerging artists of 2010 poll. It would be very kind of you to click the link below, and vote for him. No signing up, no email addresses needed, just one click right next to Patrick’s name on the poll.
http://la.thedelimagazine.com/snacks

Patrick’s and I played a show recently at Room 5 and we have plans to record alot more music together, and play many more shows in the coming months. We will have another youtube video coming out very soon, so stay tuned for that.

More music soon!

As promised…

This is a cover of Radiohead’s “Idioteque” that I have been working on with my friend Patrick Joseph.

Everything you hear is acoustic guitar or vocals in some form.

Check it out! Leave some feedback.

The reason for my absence…

I’ve been hard at work over the past couple of months or so working on some new music. The video above is a sample of what will be coming from one of those projects: the hollow threads
The video is a short stop motion animation, time lapse photography, and another sort of stop motion at the end. Enjoy.

We will be releasing more music and video soon, so stay tuned.

I’ve also been collaborating with Patrick Joseph on his music. He is an extremely talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, and his debut album was just released this week.
You can get a copy here: Antiques
or, if you are in LA, head over to Amoeba music for a copy. You can also find him on facebook and stream the album here. It is a great album, and we will be working closely over the coming months to bring his live show to life, and we will also be doing some other cool things that you will want to look out for.

So there is movement. And I am busy with music, I unfortunately haven’t been as active with this blog as I would like. But now that things are in motion a bit more with the previously mentioned projects, I will update here about what is going on and start posting musical stream of consciousness again (I hope).