Archive for August, 2009

Tobias Fischer sent me some questions about the making of Physical Changes, and I answered them here, in his wonderful German-based magazine Tokafi, which covers music from around the world.

This week, on August 26, there will be a very special night in Milwaukee, WI, as we celebrate, through various performers, the wonder of the six-stringed instrument known as the guitar.  Chicago’s David Daniell and Milwaukee’s Collections of Colonies of Bees and Todd Kemper, will showcase three approaches to the instrument that will cross and [...]

It can be so easy to forget about the fact, that someday, for each of us, all of this will be gone.  It can be easy to take time for granted and plan many wonderful things for ourselves and the ones we care about.  The more exciting life becomes, the easier it is to forget [...]

Author Hugh MacLeod talks about the fact that when you do something, anything, that action alone gets response, and in some cases, respect, from others.  Taking it further, when you work at something, for a long period of time, all sorts of other things happen because of those things you do, financially, opportunities, and even [...]

On my recent visit to Denmark, I spent a lot of time with the people in the group Slaraffenland, and their close friends and family.  It was clear, in many ways, that this was a tight knit group. Friends hung out with other friend’s parents, some members were actual twins; their lives seemed integrated in [...]

Recently, I’ve spent much of my free time recording different persussion passages for Masami Akita, Nic Le Ban/Jarboe/Jim Schoenecker, and Christian Kiefer/Keenan Lawler.  I approached each of these sessions with a slightly different perspective, while using pretty much the same set-up and equipment.  In spending so much time listening back to these while mixing them [...]

It’s been said by some that the new economy will involve more trading of services, that in times of short cash, people will work together to provide things for each other that they would normally purchase outright.
Selling creative work for money has been going on in the world for a long time, with varying degrees [...]

Physical Changes was listed as Album of the Month this week at Tokafi Magazine.  They’ll be conducting an interview with me about the making of the record in the near future as well.
Jagjaguwar also launched the first track from the upcoming Volcano Choir record, titled Unmap, this week.  I played drums and percussion on the [...]

Here’s a chance to hear some unavailable or otherwise difficult to obtain recordings from Dutch artist Raymond Dijkstra.

There is something powerful and challenging about communicating a very clear, direct message.  Some people are very good at it, and get a lot of attention for it because their words and their work inspire people in very specific ways.  From the audience’s perspective, they always know what they’re getting.
There is also something powerful and [...]