Mediaplayer, Azalia Snail, Distros, Mini-Comics

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So I noticed a couple days ago after updating Firefox that some sites have problems with playing streaming media for me.  Today I noticed that the Silber Radio page is an example.  Crap.  Anyone know what’s up with that?  Looks like it has to do with anyone/everyone using a Windows Media Player embedded player.  Kinda sucks.

Started going through the process of getting the Azalia Snail on iTunes as there were some minor technical issues on it involving the disc’s co-releases from Powertool.

I sent out an email to my distros about picking up the Electric Bird Noise & Azalia Snail discs.  We’ll see what happens as some of my distros seem to not be doing quite so healthy today as five years ago.  Official street date is June 28, of course you can get them from me now.

Did another wave of follow up on the mini-comics that went out for review.  There have been some reviews coming in.  I’ve just been posting them in the Twitter feed so far.

I talked a bit with this music supervision service that wants to take publishing points of things in their catalog.  Not sure exactly how I feel about the idea.  On the one hand giving them publishing is bullshit.  On the other hand placement is where money is & $100 is better than zero dollars.  Plus I know that front end payments are fading away & how else can the placement guys make their money.

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Remora, Electric Bird Noise, Slicnaton, Wahs, Beastie Boys

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So I had this weird sound problem at the Remora show the other night. My amp was dreadfully quiet. I turned it up to ten & it wasn’t as loud as it normally is at three. I figured out the next day that somebody had twisted the low, mid, & high knobs all to zero & that was the problem. There was also some electrical issues & half my effects rig didn’t work & this seems to happen a lot lately. I need to try to figure out what that’s about.

I did two recordings with Brian McKenzie for his upcoming Electric Bird Noise album.  One of the songs currently sounds like Swans & the other sounds like Low.  It’s like it’s 1997 when they toured together.

So I screwed around with a couple of McKenzie’s wah pedals while I was down at Myrtle Beach.  He had a Cry Baby which I didn’t really care for.  He also had a Snarling Dogs which I liked (except that it looks a little cheesy), but he said that they break really easily & that was the fourth one he’d had.  Anyone have any suggestions for a wah that is way more aggressive sounding than the classic wahs, not too expensive, & not prone to breaking?

I got a rough mix of the Slicnaton record that will be coming out on Silber at some point “soon.”  I’ll let you know more as things happen.

The Beastie Boys have this bizarre & entertaining thirty minute video starring Seth Rogan, Elijah Wood, Will Farrell & a ton of other folks:

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2 Responses to Remora, Electric Bird Noise, Slicnaton, Wahs, Beastie Boys

  1. GoddakkAttack says:
    May 16, 2011 at 9:15 am

    How do you mean by more aggressive?

  2. Brian John Mitchell says:
    May 16, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    Doesn’t sound thin, has some low end bass presence. Basically what I’m getting out of my Ashdown bass envelope filter, but with the added control of being a wah instead of an envelope filter.

Remora, Barcodes, Low

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Practiced for the Remora show tomorrow with the guitar & effects plugged & ran into some kind of “no sound coming out” problem that eventually magically started to work.  I think it’s my ABY box that I stepped on the LED a couple years ago & it pushed into the body & may or may not have cracked the circuit board.  These songs are for the full band line-up & some of them just don’t work for me solo & so I hope I like them better at the show.

I wrote up the onesheets for stores/distros for the new releases today.  I guess I need to go ahead & solicit.

I found some random cool things online today.
(1) Here’s a webpage that makes barcodes out of whatever you want to type in.  So you can get a barcode that says your name & scan it at the store & it’ll say “Remora – product not found” or whatever.
(2) Here’s a website about making an old TV into a weird oscilloscope/images reacting to sound thing.  Of course I’m way too scared to try it.  Some people have made some where they just convert the tv speakers into mics & I kinda want one, but what would I do with it?  Hard to justify the space in my house.
(3) Here’s a video of Low covering “Africa” by Toto.

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Free Music from Remora & Thorn1 plus other fun stuff.

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So today instead of actually practicing playing guitar, I made this on my sub-midi program.  Let me know what you think & if it feels familiar.

I finally have the finished version of the Azalia Snail press release done.  Also here’s a video of me & Ethel assembling some copies of the Azalia Snail disc with audio by Azalia Snail.

Thorn1 recently did a cover of the Cure song “Cold.”  If I’m lucky you can listen to it here:
Thorn1 – Cold (The Cure cover) by Thorn1

I finished a good enough draft of the script for the XO after next to send to Melissa to proof.

Finally here’s an episode of The Outer Limits I recently saw & liked.

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Pricing, Azalia Snail, Remora, Lost Kisses, XO

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So as some of you may have noticed, the price of shipping internationally went up a bit recently.  A single CD went up from $3.70 to $4.33 going to Europe.  Which makes me wonder about raising the international price from $14 up to $15.  On $14 I get $13.15 after transaction fees, then a quarter for the mailer, which brings it down to $8.57; but I have to mail it from the post office (because of the customs forms) & calculating in the mile fee is $3 so I’m down to $5.57.  & the cost of a disc (with manufacturing & promo) is about $3-$4.  So that leaves an extra buck for Silber & a buck for the band.  I don’t know.  I think $15 is reasonable for an internationally shipped disc, but when I go to friends websites it seems like everybody is selling CDs super cheap these days ($10 plus shipping, which I guess would end up $15?), which is funny because I used to be lower priced than most folks….

I think I might have finally finished the Azalia Snail press kit.  I sent it off to her to review.  The version on the website has just been so that it isn’t a dead link.  I also assembled a couple hundred of the discs today.  I still need to print out barcodes & solicit the distros & set the official release date & blah-blah-blah.

I went over my set list for the Remora show in Myrtle Beach this Friday.  Three of the songs I’ve only played once before.  In the old days I would practice for four hours, but these days thirty minutes seems like it will have to do.

I filled out a form to get the video version of Lost Kisses shown at this thing for the local arts council (pre-accepted because it was financed by them).  We’ll see what happens.

I started writing down a new XO script (even though Melissa still has a script she’s working on) since there are three plots me & Melissa got put together over the phone a couple weeks ago.  Also because I was writing Dave Sim a letter & we are discussing who you do your work/art for & I realized I’m totally comfortable with the idea of just writing scripts & never going through the headaches of finding someone to draw them & then needing to do the layout & assembly & promotion.  I’ve completed almost as much (if not exactly as much) if I write 100 scripts & make zero comics as if I actually make the 100 comics.  Because someone else can scan in the art & assemble it.  The only thing that I might do better than anyone else is tell my stories.  I guess I’ve been thinking a lot about the posthumous legacy lately.  I’m like George Bush & The Velvet Underground, the ages will judge me kindly (that’s a joke) & I’ll be dead much longer than I was alive.

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Remora, Azalia Snail, Electric Bird Noise, Interviews

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Looking for input on the art for the new Remora album Scars Bring Hope – http://www.silbermedia.com/remora/remora-scars-photos.pdf -cleaning up the photos took a big chunk of my day.

Got a little more work done on the Azalia Snail press release.  Slow & steady wins the race.

I did some work on a collaboration for the Electric Bird Noise album that I believe is two or three albums out for him.  Added vocals & drums to a track.  We’ll see what happens.

I was going through my email box & found an interview request from a couple months ago.  I answered the questions & sent them in.  If it doesn’t get used I’ll post the answers on here at some point.

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QRD, Finally Checking It Out, I Heart Noise, Wheelchairs, Azalia Snail, Dreams

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Starting to try to get some things going for the upcoming QRDs. Working on four issues at once – musician dads, guitarists, label owners, comic folks – so if there’s anyone you want to see take part send me their contact info.  Sent out a few hundred emails to potential interview subjects.  Also I’m going to run an advertisement special where you appear in all four issues for the price of one.

There’s a review of the Less Than Zero movie over at Finally Checking It Out.

Our friends over at I Heart Noise are working up a bunch of comps for any of you interested in contributing.

My grandmother’s getting into the idea of me pushing her for walks in the wheelchair.  Today we went about three miles.  Which is kind of exhausting.  At least I’m able to get my exercise in before she goes to bed now, so that theoretically gives me an extra thirty minutes a day for Silber/artsy stuff.

Here’s a video for Azalia Snail‘s “Burnt Cookies”:

Last Night’s Dream:
I’m working at a military complex training new soldiers.  A large percentage of the soldiers are cats instead of humans. (I think I’ve been taking in too much Harlan Ellison if that’s possible.)

I find out that Neil Patrick Harris died over a year ago.  Why didn’t I know earlier?  Clearly that would be as relevant to my life as Andrew Koenig….

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The Pointless Forest, Remora, Wheelchairs, Live from Silber HQ

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So I’d like to issue a special “screw you” to Xtranormal who say they have reinstated a free video making thing via YouTube but gets an error message every time I try to finalize a video I wasted an hour making.

Had a band practice with The Pointless Forest. There’ll be a show at the Nightlight (Chapel Hill, NC) today (Thursday) & I think we’re playing first around 9:00.

I can’t remember if I mentioned it on here before, but I finally made a ramp over the stairs at my house this weekend.  So I can take my grandmother for walks in her wheelchair now & I live in a hilly area & I have to say it’s a real workout pushing her around.  It reminds me of my old job where the equipment always broke & I’d have to pull a 5000 pound dolly a quarter mile by hand & how much I liked that.

I took a bunch of potential photos for the new Remora record.  More news on it when I’ve polished up the images.

Here’s a little video from inside Silber HQ today.  No wonder so little work gets done….

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6 Responses to The Pointless Forest, Remora, Wheelchairs, Live from Silber HQ

  1. Nick says:
    May 5, 2011 at 3:01 am

    SLF’s One is an amazing album. Just remembered I have not listened to that record for years though…

    • Brian John Mitchell says:
      May 5, 2011 at 10:16 am

      Thanks. I really need to do the follow-up record of studio recordings for SLF. I suppose my 4.5 hour drone piece probably should come under that name whenever it’s finally finished. I think it has about 20 layers now which means 90 hours in actual recording time! The critical listening phase is going to be a bitch!

  2. GoddakkAttack says:
    May 5, 2011 at 8:38 am

    memba draggin the lav cart? nothing like listening to turds sloshing around with every step

Azalia Snail, Upcoming Gigs, Mini-Comics, Newsletter, Sarah June

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Got some work done on the Azalia Snail press release & I got the last box from the printer for being able to assemble things.  Really gotta get things finished off with that & announce the release date.

I at least theoretically have a couple shows in the next couple weeks.  Pointless Forest this Thursday in Chapel Hill & Remora a week from Friday in Myrtle Beach.  So I need to get myself in a practice mode.

Sent off the first wave of follow-up on the mini-comic promos.  Hopefully the reviews are going to be coming soon.

Our intern Bill Pernell is building a little email submission script for me for creating mailing lists.  Pretty excited about it.

I sent out a little newsletter for the month.  Pretty lame one as no narrative & just facts, but whatever.  The next one will be a little more formal.  Trying to get too many things going at once I suppose.

Here’s a new video Sarah June just put up.  A little stylistically different than most of her stuff with a bit of a trip hop thing going.

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From Oceans to Autumn, Azalia Snail, Electric Bird Noise, Carta, Sarah June, Dreams

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So if you go over to the Silber front page you’ll find five new items available.

First off is the free EP by From Oceans to Autumn as mentioned yesterday.

Second off is Azalia Snail‘s Celestial Respect.  The release date hasn’t been set, we haven’t finished up the press release, but it’s ready for you to download or buy physical copies.

Third off is Electric Bird Noise‘s The Silber Sessions.  The release date hasn’t been set, we haven’t finished up the press release, but it’s ready for you to download or buy physical copies.

Fourth off is Carta‘s The Glass Bottom Boat.  I just found a box with a few copies of this debut record of theirs so if you’ve never heard it, here’s your chance to buy it from Silber & find out what first attracted us to them.

Fifth off is Sarah June‘s This is My Letter to the World.  I just got in a box Hand/Eye of Sarah’s debut record which was one of my personal favorites of 2008.  So if you’ve never heard it, here’s your chance to buy it from Silber & find out what first attracted us to her.  It even includes a Prince cover & an Elvis cover.

Last Night’s Dreams:
There’s been a storm overnight & when I look out my window the neighbor’s house is missing.  I go outside & see it’s fallen down the cliff that the water flow has been cutting through their yard since they built the new subdivision where the woods used to be & the water flow has tripled.

I’m walking around the neighborhood late at night when I see the garage door open in the semi-abandoned house next door & there’s a guy trying to steal the car. Well you can check some useful source for best garage door supplier.

A friend of mine is playing guitar & he has the Rocktron Digital Destiny Reverb pedal that I’ve been thinking about buying.  His performance is for a music video & he’s surrounded by Hot Wheels race tracks.  After the video he tells me that my one ex-girlfriend is dead & that she was beaten to death by her boyfriend after years of abuse.  I ask him why he didn’t tell me she was being beat up so I could’ve killed the guy to fix the situation.

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