Posted on December 4, 2021
The orchestral sounds of Quarantined Beats And Inside Voices
I recently shared a Twitter thread about Quarantined Beats and Inside Voices, an album I made in May of 2020 with the help of some friends. One of the things that really struck me about the project was that up until making it, I always thought I had rehearse in person with other musicians… or at least be in the same city.
So I often found myself saying “I wish I knew a theremin player” or “I wish this saw player lived in SF”. It took being locked up during a shelter in place order for me to realize that I could make music with anyone in the world. Not just guest vocals, but I could work with horn players or cellists from anywhere.
So Quarantined Beats turned out to be one of my most orchestral releases yet, particularly with tracks like “Marble Madness”, “Flytrap”, and “These Times”.
I worked with several musicians on this album, but I just shared a twitter video featuring some of Camille De Carvalho’s parts. Camille played Ondes Martenot, vibraphone, french horn, trombone, and other instruments on QBaIV.
Posted on November 28, 2021
Tux and Fanny is a fantastic game!
Christine and I just finished playing a game called Tux And Fanny. I loved it so much that I had to share it with my friends. The game is based on a web series of the same name. It follows Fanny and Tux through an animated world in the style of a young kids show. It has some major Teletubbies vibes, but with a lot of surrealist and dadaist humor. If you are a fan of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, you’ll love this.
Tux and Fanny is available on Switch or on Itch (for your PC) and it will only take a weekend or two to beat. The game is a point and click style puzzle game filled with really silly mini-games. None of it is hard though. It’s more about trying to use the mini-games to add to the story. Sometimes the mini-game is literally just walking a character to the right a little bit, but it’s really just using that format to add more depth to the world. The art is great, the story is wonderful, and the music really adds to the whole thing.
I can’t recommend this game highly enough!
- $10 on Itch- https://ghosttime.itch.io/tux-and-fanny
- $10 on Switch- https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/tux-and-fanny-switch/
- $5 for the soundtrack- https://albertandgabriel.bandcamp.com/album/tux-and-fanny-video-game-soundtrack-a-sides
I mentioned the webseries, which is great, but I really recommend starting with the game first.
Posted on November 21, 2021
The Transforming Tall Bike
A few weeks back I was hanging outside of Bender’s with some friends when I saw a rad low-rider bicycle heading down 20th St. As the bike began to cross South Van Ness the rider began to slowly rise from the ground as his bike converted from a low-rider to a tall bike. In just ten seconds he was sitting about 5 feet higher than he was before.
When the rider came back down the street later I flagged him down and asked him about his bike. His name was Laird and he had custom built the bike based on some tutorials that rachl009 had posted on Instructables a few years back. It’s an incredible mod!
Posted on November 14, 2021
Gotye’s Jean-Jacques Perrey Cover Band
What would you do if a song you wrote suddenly became the most popular song in the world?
After the success of his 2011 hit “Somebody That I Used To Know”, Gotye left his career as a solo artist and formed a Jean-Jacques Perrey cover band. The band is called the Ondioline Orchestra and I swear I’m not making any of this up!
I like to think that if I suddenly had unlimited funds and artistic freedom, I’d do the same thing. I’m a huge fan of Perrey’s work and I hope it shows in my music.
If you aren’t familiar with Jean-Jacques Perrey, he was an early pioneer in the world of electronic music. He invented a musical device called the Ondioline, but I think he might be most well known for his work with Gershon Kingsley on “The In Sound From Way Out!“. Here’s some footage I shot of Perrey performing in SF.
