Materia Obscura

40 Whacks demo

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:55:00 -0400

Check out the demo from new DC band 40 Whacks (Lindsey Porambo on bass and vocals, James Berbert on guitar and vocals, Shira Mario on drums). I recorded this yesterday. We did the drums, bass and first guitar track live in the room, then overdubbed additional guitar tracks for James. I was pleasently surprised by the sound quality and ease of recording live, rather than track by track.

demo 2013 by Forty Whacks

http://fortywhacks.bandcamp.com

nationstates: Gouge Away finished our demo. You can listen to...

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:22:00 -0400

nationstates:

Gouge Away finished our demo. You can listen to it here. Tapes to come soon.

I play guitar in this band and did these recordings. Haven’t played in a fast and/or heavy band on years. Book us on yr next show!

http://gougeaway.bandcamp.com/

Check out the my solo album, which you can download for free (or...

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:14:00 -0400

Check out the my solo album, which you can download for free (or stream) from Bandcamp: Drift + Fade by Carni Klirs

This is the material that I’ve been playing live sporadically over the last 10 months or so, an I’m excited to finally get it documented and out there to the world. Come see me play it live this Friday at the Rocketship: https://www.facebook.com/events/187250698093128/

Technical notes for those who are interested:

Recorded using SM57s on two guitar cabs, through an Apogee Duet, into Logic. I recorded the guitar parts live, and then overdubbed cymbals, and a floor tom. Most of the songs are just 4 tracks: Guitar left, Guitar right, Ride cymbal, and Floor tom. Guitar setup for the the recordings:

Song #1) Bradley (Gibson L6S knockoff) guitar, tuned to DADAAD. The guitar signal splits through a Boss DD-6 delay pedal into a Music Man HD-130 on the left, and a Gibson 35 watt solid state combo amp on the right. Both amps have the tremolo set to a slow pulse, synched up as closely as possibly, with the delay time on the DD-6 pinging in half-time from the tremolo pulse. Both amp’s spring reverb set pretty high

Song #2) Same as above, except guitar tuned to DA#DGA#F, and the Tremolo pulsing much deeper than song #1

Song #3) Epiphone Rivera hollow body, tuned to Standard with a capo on fret #2. Same amp setup as above.

Song #4) back to the Bradley guitar, tuned to DA#DGA#F. Switched out the Gibson amp for a 1960s Univox tube combo amp. Added an Electro Harmonix POG pedal, Blackout Effectors Twosome fuzz pedal, and stereo chorus pedal to the effects chain, before going into the amps.

Musical updates

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:36:00 -0400

Busy musical week ahead of me. Playing first Fell Types show in 7 months with Gun Outfit tomorrow night:

https://www.facebook.com/events/282619068538123/

We’ll be playing a brand new song, which is long and epic, and hopefully you all will like it as much as I do.

I’m in the middle of recording a demo for a new band I play guitar in called Gouge Away (w/ Greg M, Brian Lam, and Stephen). Expect tracks for that to drop within the next week or so.

And lastly, this Friday is the tape release show for my solo project/my birthday party:

https://www.facebook.com/events/187250698093128/

I’ll be releasing the whole tape for free online a couple of days before the show. It’s 36 minutes of music, and I’m really excited to get it out there to the world. Either hit me up, or Sister Polygon records (sisterpolygon@gmail.com) if you want a physical copy.

Stay tuned for tracks for the above projects to be posted here in the near future.

First Fell Types show in over 6 months. Gun Outfit rules. We...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 01:52:00 -0400

First Fell Types show in over 6 months. Gun Outfit rules. We played our first show with them, at what was also the last Treeswing show, over two and a half years ago

Listen to Untitled by Moon Family Band. Hey, so I don’t...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:06:06 -0500

Listen to Untitled by Moon Family Band.

Hey, so I don’t know why I didn’t post this a month ago, but here it is now, for posterity. Last year, when I went to the retreat in Moon, VA, I made a video of the week. I wanted to do something different this year. As I’ve been getting more and more into recording, and I had just got a new recording interface which I wanted to try out, I decided to put together some mega recording project for the week, and get as many people as possible at the retreat to play on it or sing in the group vocals/choir portion.

It was a really interesting process, as I had no idea what it was going to sound like before we started, and it only started to take shape as more people added tracks. This was also probably the most complex recording project I’ve done, in terms of number of total tracks, and variety of instrumentation. So mixing was a challenge.

Anyway, here it is.

Logo I designed this week for my housemate Abby’s new dog...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:36:32 -0500

Logo I designed this week for my housemate Abby’s new dog walking company. Coming soon to Bloomingdale, Edgewood, and LeDroit Park neighborhoods of NWDC.

Another song from the same show. We switched up instruments...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:31:30 -0500

Another song from the same show. We switched up instruments almost every song. this is Tom Violence by Sonic Youth. It’s a bit rough at times (wrong notes on the bass line are painfully obvious with a sparse arrangement like this), but I think we appropriately captured the heavy, sinister nature of the song, even at low volumes.

Cleaning out my hard drive and found these videos of an Acoustic...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:26:16 -0500

Cleaning out my hard drive and found these videos of an Acoustic show Diana and I played a year and a half ago. This is a cover of Total Peace by Sebadoh. Was fun to figure out a guitar line on the lap dulcimer. Next up: Tom Violence by Sonic Youth.

More solo stuff. Trying out various tunings. This is in DADAAD....

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:45:00 -0500

More solo stuff. Trying out various tunings. This is in DADAAD. It’s all about the drone strings. I really need a 12 string electric. Also been trying out adding percussion. I’m putting out a tape of this stuff soonish.

Next Fell Types show. This will be the first show that Positive...

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 12:28:31 -0400

Next Fell Types show. This will be the first show that Positive Force is hosting at a new space. Hopefully it will be the first of many.

Realized the other day that I am playing 5 sets at 4 shows this month:

10/5 Solo set @ SOVA w/ Screen Vinyl Image and Nervous Curtains

10/13 Solo set @ the Dollhouse w/ Evil Sword (Kate Ferenz) and Night Manager (Garret Underwood)

10/21 Fell Types @ Dance Insitute w/ Des Ark, War Women, +more

10/26 Halloween Cover band show @ the Rocketship (I’m playing in both the Buzzcocks and Siouxsie And The Banshees)

This is tonight! Check out the bizzaro poster made by LA...

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:58:00 -0400

This is tonight! Check out the bizzaro poster made by LA Johnson

sashalord-presents:

Sasha Lord Presents…
Friday September 7th, Manateees (Goner Records), Fell Types & The Fordists
$10, 10pm and All Ages at Comet Ping Pong

Manateees (Memphis, Goner Records)
Fuzzfest Lo-fi Punk
http://manateees.bandcamp.com/

The Fordists (DC)
Post-hardcore Noise Punk
http://thefordists.bandcamp.com/

Fell Types (DC)
Fuzzy 90’sesque Indie Rock
http://felltypes.bandcamp.com/

Ask me anything...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:41:40 -0400

For better or worse, I’ve activated the “Ask me anything” feature in tumblr. We’ll see how this goes…

Upcoming Fell Types shows. Type experiments on found...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 22:23:00 -0400

Illustration by Simone Ludeman http://simoneludeman.tumblr.com

Illustration by Nate Williams http://www.n8w.com

Upcoming Fell Types shows. Type experiments on found space-themed illustrations.

Astronaut Illustration on flyer #1 by Simone Ludeman http://simoneludeman.tumblr.com.

Space Wallpaper Illustration on flyer #2 by by Nate Williams http://www.n8w.com

Go check out both illustrators other work. They both rule.

Hey, check out this EP I recorded by Demands, a new DC hardcore...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 17:19:48 -0400

Hey, check out this EP I recorded by Demands, a new DC hardcore band. This is my first full band recording. Drums recorded to the 4-track, then bounced to the computer for mixing and overdubbing guitar, bass and vocals. Learned a lot about drum mixing. Hit me up if you want me to record your band!

TUMBLR FRIENDS! Come to this...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:53:09 -0400

TUMBLR FRIENDS! Come to this show!

http://www.facebook.com/events/380949901970574/

Monday, August 13th, 6-9pm, $6-10 sliding scale

SHOW NOW MOVED TO THE ROCKETSHIP.

NOTE EARLIER START TIME, DOORS AT 6pm.

THE DEADS
(Dc sluge prog heavy hitters)

XANAX
(Philly all-stars, ex-mass movement of
The moth, off minor, resister, +more)

INFINITE VOID
(New-wave/post-punk on tour from australia, ex-diamond sea)

JAIL SOLIDARITY
(New dc band! Mem. Of the fordists,
Sludgy noise rock)

Afterwards, be sure to go to David and Lizz’s birthday kickball extravaganza:

http://www.facebook.com/events/303558149741817/

part of Christian Brady’s set from earlier tonight in DC....

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:54:00 -0400

part of Christian Brady’s set from earlier tonight in DC. He’s exploring similar sonic territory to my own solo excursions, albeit more song based. Really good stuff. I want that tape echo unit.

Here is a clip from the show I played last night at Crittenden...

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 22:04:34 -0400

Here is a clip from the show I played last night at Crittenden house. I played in the backyard, which was really nice. The sun was setting, so the light levels were super low. At the end of the video you can see the police rolling up, then me realizing it and wrapping up the set right then and there. A few minutes later it started raining.

Hello tumblr friends, I am playing a solo in a little over a...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 14:54:00 -0400

Hello tumblr friends,

I am playing a solo in a little over a week. This’ll be a fully intrumental, more experimental set, which I’m really excited to play for people. The song posted here is a preview practice recording, just left the tape roll while I was writing/practicing/fleshing out ideas. Here is the show info, and flyer (by Layne Garret):

tuesday july 3 @ 1408 crittenden st nw / 7pm

morgan evans-weiler (violin+electronix from boston www.morganevansweiler.com )

weed tree (improv gtr+drums www.soundcloud.com/weed-tree )

carni klirs (tremolo soundcapes, new project from carni http://materiaobscura.tumblr.com/ )

http://www.facebook.com/events/322279654524821/

Spoonboy 2012 tour demos

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:09:33 -0400

Last week David came by to record some songs for a tour demo. We did really simple 4 track recordings, just guitar and vocals. This is the debut recording for my new microphone, which reproduced the vocals very naturally, needing very little EQ work in mixing. These songs are really good too:

<a href=”http://spoonboy.bandcamp.com/album/tour-demo-2012” data-mce-href=”http://spoonboy.bandcamp.com/album/tour-demo-2012”>tour demo 2012 by spoonboy</a>http://spoonboy.bandcamp.com/album/tour-demo-2012