Dust Collectors

I Played a Janitor

2011-12-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

what i'd give to write a song this good....

I love it...

2011-11-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

i'm serious....LOOK at these moves!!

hello, cruel world...

2011-10-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

i have a couple of things to say here that are exciting to me and occupying my headspace at the moment...

#1, i have been kind of quiet on this for a little bit, but i am in fact hard at work on some new "Honest Weight" recordings. I'd like to make a new full-length record out of them, but time will tell...maybe my mind will change, or my wise counsel will redirect my ambitions...anyway, i've made some real progress on a new batch of songs, and i'll be happy to share them as soon as it makes sense. probably years from now.

#2, i'm very, very excited and anxious to announce that, thanks to the employment of an old high school buddy at the Make A Wish Foundation, i'll be joining one of my favorite bands, TAMMAR, on the road for a few days at the end of the month! Their drummer can't make the trip, and my mouth has a deficiency which renders it incapable of uttering the word "No", so I'll be filling the Sarah Wyatt Swanson-shaped hole behind the drum kit for the following three Tammar shows...
Friday, Oct 28, 2011 / Cameo Gallery / Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, OCt 29, 2011 / Piano's / New York, NY
Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 / the Bowery Ballroom / New York, NY

see you there?

virtual ticket holder

2011-09-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

TICKETS for the upcoming Mt Eerie / Nicholas Krgovic / Mike Adams at His Honest Weight show can now be purchased online by visiting.........

http://www.freewebs.com/mikedadams/tix.html

see you at the show!

Home Videos

2011-08-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Mike Adams At His Honest Weight "Help Me When You're Gone" from Flannelgraph Records on Vimeo.

"Help Me When You're Gone"
Written by Jason Martin

Engineered/Produced by Mike Adams

Performed by Mike Adams At His Honest Weight

Mixed by Adam Jessup

Mastered by Drew Vandenberg

Video concept by Jared Cheek

Written, Directed, and Edited by Jared Cheek

Starring Mike Adams, Jared Bane, Aaron Bragg, Nathan Vollmar, Justin Vollmar
...and introducing : Jessica Adams

Special thanks to Flannelgraph Records and Candy Claws

Physical copies of the Candy Claws & Mike Adams At His Honest Weight Sing Starflyer 59 split 10" can be purchased at the Flannelgraph Records Online Store!

Show Announcement!!

2011-07-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

MOUNT EERIE
NICHOLAS KRGOVICH
Stagnant Pools
mike adams at His honest weight

Russian Recording (1021 s walnut st, bloomington, IN)
9:00pm (sharp)
$7 advanced / $10 door

Jared's making a nutty flyer, I'm sure, so I'll get that posted up here just as soon as I can.

Velvet Touch

2011-07-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

not usually much of a jazz fan, but getting interested lately. thanks, publicly, to ben lumsdaine for the assistance.
also, scat is a hard thing to swallow. it's lost on me. unless it's roger miller.

this song/performance is sweet though!

Excitement

2011-07-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

here's some music i am feeling VERY excited about right now...

Milagres - Glowing Mouth

Tammar - Visits

Loren Connors - Red Mars

Sleeping Bag - Sleeping Bag

The Drift - Blue Hour

I'm waiting patiently (read: anxiously) to hear and look into the artwork for each of these albums as they're made available. that's the longest list of upcoming releases to excite me, maybe ever...

in other news, i'm headed out on tour with husband&wife this weekend. should be a blast, anyway, PLUS we're with sleeping bag. double bonus.

also, i've started tracking songs for a new Honest Weight record. It's very early and hard to tell what this is going to be like. i started with 13. in theory, i'm down to 12 now, with possibly only 11. there's still one more to arrange and record a scratch track for. i think it'll happen. everything is still very abstract and malleable, but it's beginning to take shape. i'll keep you informed as it's revealed to me.

thanks for reading.

The Bet Of Us For The Rest Of Us

2011-07-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

i'm very excited and happy to report that i received an anonymous tip yesterday that told me about the one-track-mind.com first-half-of-the-year-best-of-list! not only did "bad weather" make the list at #7, BUT my good friends and jealousy-inducingly talented bros in Milagres took the much deserved number one spot!!

if you're not familiar with OTM, do yourself a favor and make a couple visits a week over there. you'll be introduced to a lot of great music that you otherwise may not have heard about. solid dudes running the show over there.

Nother

2011-06-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

here she is, folks! all the news that's fit to print.

[edit]
oops, that didn't work, but here's the deal...
free instore performance TOMORROW afternoon (3pm) at Luna music in indianapolis.
all gave some, some gave all.

secret new release released!

2011-06-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

That's Itt, Cuz b/w Talk Too Much by Flannelgraph Records

here's my brand new digital-only single, recorded for and released by Flannelgraph Records just 5 minutes ago!

I wrote and recorded these songs in a fit one night a few weeks ago while i was (and still am) dealing with some pretty heavy stuff. Without exaggerating, i think i can say that i'm currently experiencing some of the most prolonged, deepest sorrow and worry I've ever felt, and simultaneously overwhelmed with some very serious, thrilling excitement and joy. Emotions are a funny thing. They are not mutually exclusive, and do not yield to one another. I typically prefer stability and reflexion to a lot of peaks and valleys, but i've definitely been feeling the strain of what's going on inside me lately. In honesty though, letting these songs out has been very therapeutic in helping me understand what i'm dealing with. Coupled with the fact that i have a whole lot of very kind and understanding friends.

sorry to get so heavy and selfish for a minute. i am happy to say, though, that the joyous thing i'm dealing with is that my first wife is currently in-the-family-way. i'm fairly certain that i'm the father, and will be accepting baby name suggestions in the comment field below.

also, i've got two shows coming up this month. a rare treat. one in muncie, IN with the calumet reel, and one in franklin, IN with legendary rockers Daniel Amos!! i'll post some details soon.

check out them new songs!!

TMI

2011-05-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I was trolling the internet looking to stream the new Cass Mccombs single (which, at the time, was "That's That") and I stumbled upon an internet "arts & culture website made by an ever-growing gang of rascally, intrepid personalities engaged in an ongoing dialogue about the world around us" called Take The Handle. It's a great looking, interactive periodical with some truly interesting content. It also seems like it might be made by well-intentioned, privileged young people from NYC with an unwitting singular world view. I had to remove myself from their mailing list because most of their announcements were not for the interesting cultural stuff but were for alcohol drinking parties. They're trying, though, and there really is some fantastic stuff in the magazine. But, I digress...

Within each issue they include a "mixtape" (which included "That's That" which is how I found it) that is essentially a playlist of mp3s of known and unknown bands that the editors like. On that same playlist with Cass Mccombs was a song by a band called Glass Ghost. The song was called "Like A Diamond", and I loved it as soon as I heard it. I couldn't find much info on Glass Ghost on the internet, but somehow I came up with an email address and contacted them, and bought some mp3s from them. All the songs were good.

Soon after that, I somehow found out that Glass Ghost had worked out a deal with Western Vinyl, who is a great little record label from Texas, to release their debut LP. I was already a fan of WV, and of Glass Ghost, so I was excited to see and hear what they came up with. What they came up with was Idol Omen, and groovy, catchy, weird record that has become one of my favorites to listen to.

Fast forward to 2011, and I'm on a spring tour with husband&wife. The best show of the entire tour was at Brooklyn's "The Rock Shop". The room was full of friends, the other bands were all buddies of ours (not to mention super-talented and engaging and GOOD)...AND Glass Ghost was headlining the show! Ultimately, I'm not really sure who was responsible for putting that show together, but I have my suspects...Anyway, Glass Ghost was great that night, and as it turns out they're also very friendly and fun to hang and chat with. The experience solidified my love for their music and I really hope I get to cross paths with them again soon.

All this to say, Western Vinyl had this callabo-version of "Like A Diamond" on their website recently, and it's really nice. I don't know who Sharon Von Etten is, but her voice is pretty and suits the song well.
Like A Diamond sung by Sharon Van Etten by western.vinyl

Also, if you go snooping around Take The Handle, check out the Becca Mann paintings in the Romantic issue.

Old Dog, New Terrors

2011-05-14T20:52:00.001-07:00

New Terrors - "Seagulls" from Stephen Dorman on Vimeo.

Here's a video of my half-brother (same mom, different dads) Burke doing his thang on television. He's a super talented guy, and I'm very proud of him and into the music he's been making lately. We chat a lot about, and frequently share, music and ideas we like, and it's always great to see his creativity coming to life.

speaking of which, he recently released a single as a part of the new Flannelgraph Records (he and I are also label mates...) monthly single project. There're three out so far, Burke's is "New Terrors", but be sure to also check out Doug Enas and his brother and the one and only Jared Bane in action as well.

let me make this easy on you...

Frozen b/w Dead Alive by Flannelgraph Records

My New Cult b/w Seagulls by Flannelgraph Records

You Don't Need To Doubt Yourself b/w Coordinate - No Nukes by Flannelgraph Records

Food For Thought

2011-05-11T21:34:00.001-07:00

Disclaimers:
I have been a fairweather fan of David Bazan's ever since I heard the "Whole EP" way back in high school. I haven't always liked his stuff, but when he does something new I typically do check it out and see what he's up to. (I like "Control" and the first four tracks on "Fewer Moving Parts" the most, fyi)

I have been a hardcore fan of Starflyer 59 ever since I heard "Gold" (dubbed for me on the same cassette as the "Whole EP", incidentally) way back in high school. I have always loved their stuff, even when it wasn't as good as their other stuff. (i like "Leave Here A Stranger", "Everybody Makes Mistakes" and "Fell in Love At 22" the most, though that's a very hard decision to make)

SAME SONG THREE TIMES ////
EXHIBIT A:
Starflyer 59 (featuring David Bazan) /// BROKEN ARM /// Ghosts Of The Future (BTV, 2007)
MP3

EXHIBIT B:
David Bazan /// LOST MY SHAPE /// Curse Your Branches (Barsuk, 2009) [track 7]
MP3

EXHIBIT C:
David Bazan /// MESSES /// Strange Negotiations (Barsuk, 2011) [track 7]
MP3

There you have it.

Also, one time my friend Jordan H. sent me this message on December 14, 2009 :
"Hey Mike,

Hope things are going well.
I had something to tell you that you might find pretty cool.
The other night, two of my friends hosted a David Bazan show in their living room, and it was pretty amazing. However, after the show we were standing around talking to him. We had iTunes on shuffle in the background, and during one song he actually left the conversation to check the computer and see what song was playing. The song was "Don't Change" and he said he loved it. So we gave him you guys' MySpace address and so on.

To recap, Dave Bazan totally dug Husband & Wife.

Take care !

-Jordan"

Not too interesting...until you realize that the name of the eighth track on David Bazan's new record "Strange Negotiations" is titled.....DON'T CHANGE!

We report, you decide....

Story Problem

2011-05-10T08:11:00.001-07:00

NEW RELEASE NEWS!!

ok, so, have you heard of Starflyer 59? They're America's greatest rock band of all-time, ever. Just ask these nerds.

Also, have you heard of Candy Claws? They're a fantastic, synthy, dreamy, space-nature band from Fort Collins, CO. Is their music good? Yes. Don't believe me? Ask these nerds.

And, have you heard of Deerhunter? They're a currently famous band from Atlanta who plays on late night TV shows. I first heard them on a stereo at a Starflyer 59 show in Illinois. Here are some nerds.

Finally, as well, have you heard of Flannelgraph Records? They're nerds.

The reason I ask is, if you know about or are interested in any of those things, then maybe you'll care about this....

Sometime in the next few months (release date TBD) Mike Adams At His Honest Weight (that's me) will be releasing a split 10" with Candy Claws on Flannelgraph Records! The music on the 10" will be of each band covering one Starflyer 59 song that they love! The "B" or "Mike Adams at His Honest Weight" side was mastered by none other than Drew Vandenberg, who I met once on St. Patrick's day in Athens, GA. He also worked (and played on) the last two Deerhunter albums.

There you have it.

Candy Claws did the cover art, and it's really great. Kinda like if Scooby-Doo went to Hawaii instead of the Brady Bunch. Hopefully we can show you that, and let you know the release date before too long. In the mean time, feel free to venture any guesses as to which Starflyer songs you think we covered. I know the answer, but I'm just not telling here out of pure meanness.

Call It A Night

2011-05-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

Antony & The Johnsons
Live at the John Waldron Arts Center
Bloomington, Indiana
2/22/2005

My Lady Story
For Today I Am A Boy
Cripple And The Starfish
The Lake
Dirt Will Crack Again
Daylight And The Sun
Afraid
You Are My Sister
Man Is The Baby
I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
Hope There's Someone

Here's a live recording of Antony & The Johnsons i found in a box today, around the time of I Am A Bird Now. That's the Antony record I'm most familiar with, so this live set is right up my alley. I think his voice is great, and this kind of live bootleg is a cool testament to what a guy like this is capable of, performance-wise. Really beautiful. Long live concert bootlegs!!

By the way, there's no real reason I haven't kept up with his recordings post SC105 (nerd alert!), so any Antony-listening suggestions would be appreciated!

human conditions

2011-04-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

crying when you're rich
is a poor if you're lonely
sheer madness prevails
upon reason to yield
but all is not lost
it is only mistaken
a small consolation, but
i know just how you feel

you got your heartbroke

i think i've said it on here before, but lyrics in a song are typically not that important to me. while i think bad ones can ruin a perfectly good tune, anything from mediocre to good is usually fine with me. occasionally though, some stick out to me as being good. up above here is a good example, written by a guy named Guy Clark, from a song made famous by a guy named Ricky Skaggs.

Ad Wizards

2011-04-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Field Mic

Making Jackpots

2011-03-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

Come One, Come All!!! BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!! ONE NIGHT ONLY!!!! BEST ACT UNDER THE BISH-TOP!!!
EXCITEMENT!! THRILLS!!!! DANGER!!!! EXTRA! EXTRA!!

Mike Adams At His Honest Weight appearing LIVE (with band) at the Bishop on tuesday March 22 around about 9pm.
with SubPop Records's (Nirvana, Looper, Chappaquiddick Skyline) THE PAPERCUTS!!!!

that's in Bloomington, IN!

4th and Walnut!!!!!

the age-limit for the show is 18+!!!! (sorry all babies and most other teenagers...)

Come for the music, stay for the **TIME RING**!!

tammar never knows

2011-02-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

alt title : tammar-o was his name-o

My friends (and current/past co-workers) in Tammar (and can i say label mates? maybe...) have made a few of the tracks from their new full-length LP available for free, and it's all very good. Tammar is one of my favorite bands to see, and they're from right here in sunny bloomington. You may recognize singer Dave Walter from such Mike Adams at His Honest Weight hits as, "Bad Weather" (do you love me now / how can i know? / spirit's upstairs banging / hard on the wall / babysitter's in a ball on the kitchen floor / don't got a thing figured out / but can't believe in it all)

in other news, we finished mixing the brand new Bro. Stephen record "Baptist Girls" last night! it's going off to mastering later this week and should actually be released later this year. it's only been a year-and-a-half since we first started tracking that thing, and i'm glad it's about to see the light of day. brought to you by the same production team responsible for the huge blockbuster success of "Oscillate Wisely". it's got that adams/jessup sounds, you dig?

holy bees

2011-02-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

the seasons are changing and i'm finding myself, once again, super busy. too busy, in fact, to write in sentences. so, here's a list :

-review mix for new Honest Weight 7"
-record demo for new h+w song (to click track)
-final mix for Bro. Stephen full-length
-test new gear and prepare for this weekend's recording session with cousin Frankie's church band
-(that means gathering and cleaning up equipment)
-upload digital LEM music (ongoing.....)
-collect things Nate needs for XRA 3.0 (ongoing...)
-look at a calendar
-finish/rerecord guitar parts for new Prayer Breakfast EP
-get the PB full-length out

current listening:
Little Wings (Black Grass)
Radiohead (King of Limbs)
Lambchop (How I Quit Smoking)
Roger Miller (Complete Discography)

making jackpots

2011-02-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

if there's any credence to this...

...then this is my drug of choice, tonight

EDIT : : :
in light (no pun intended...) of new information, i should also tell you that this is my shoe of choice

in the time of chimpanzees i was a monkey and a monkey

2011-02-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

this song is a great example of the kind of sweeping melody that i really love. it also utilizes the "song that never ends" style of unresolved interplay between the chorus and verses that leads one right into the other and seems like it could for eternity. i like that kind of song writing, and i like this song. so good!

oh, james.....

2011-02-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

been james
been tracyanne
for a long time now
been a CO fan
no doubt in my mind
this one's my jam

by : mike adams

Ice Storm

2011-02-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

here's a field recording i made of the water maple in our backyard during tonight's ice storm. There's also some wind and traffic noise going on here.

Ice Storm Backyard 2 1 11 by mikeadams

I will meet you in the morning

2011-01-28T12:28:00.000-08:00

AMAZONG!

2011-01-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Today's the big one! 1/25/11...Oscillate Wisely sees the light of day. You can find it available for purchase pretty much anyplace that's worth anything, that sells music that is, thanks to the fine folks at Flannelgraph & St Ives Records.

In related news, I'd like to thank the fine music editors at AMAZON.COM for making us one of their "Editor Picks New Releases" today. How about that?!

In unrelated, sad news, David Grubb, the Indiana Outlaw, was found dead yesterday in his home, just down the street from my own place, after a house fire. Rest In Peace.

Smoke + Mirrors

2011-01-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday, the brand new video for "I'm Not Worried", the first single from Oscillate Wisely, has been posted to the internet.

I didn't get to see any of it until it was unveiled yesterday morning, and I think it came out great. Mondo thanks to Nathan Vollmar and Will Claytor from the 19th State Film Collective, as well as Jared Cheek from Flannelgraph Records for making this happen.

A couple of interesting notes...This version of the song is actually a different version than the one that appears on the album. All of the audio you're hearing during the video was recorded during the making of the video. That drummer is playing the drums you hear, the bass player is playing the bass you hear, and so on and so forth. The idea is that it would serve as a "live" recording...sort of, i guess. This whole thing was also taped in my backyard in one evening between eating cheese-less pizza and watching Everything Is Terrible The Movie.

I wish I'd smiled more....

no time for silence

2011-01-13T23:40:00.000-08:00

i just found out today that Jeff Jacobs, trumpeter and keyboardist for San Francisco jazz/rock/surf/dub/ambient band The Drift, passed away earlier this week. very sad news.

The Drift are sincerely one of my favorite bands. perhaps they took me by surprise or came along at just the right time for me, but i think i love them so much because i heard the music and developed an attachment to it before i even knew a single thing about the band. and i essentially grabbed their record at random from a pile of 100s of other CDs just to try something new at work one day. It's one of those pure kind of music experiences to be introduced to a band that way and turn out to really love them. No outside influence, just music good enough to speak for itself. i love it when that happens.

I was lucky/silly enough to get a chance to see the Drift live once in Louisville, KY (with Jeff Jacobs) before it was too late. It is one of my favorite concert memory experiences.

if you've got a few bucks lying around, this record comes HIGHLY recommended from me.

Cheers in Heaven

2011-01-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

What do Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Scorpions, and I have in common?
We're all being advertised on PITCHFORKMEDIA.COM, right now!

That's right! Even the fine folks of Pitchforkmedia.com recommend that you pick up Oscillate Wisely on or around it's release date of 1/25/11, and you had better mind.

in other news, we had the first full-band practice for the OW release show (1/16/11, in Bloomington) last night, and it went great! Loads of fun, f'sho.
here they are:
Mike Adams - singing
Captain Bfox - guitar, singing
Zae Canale - guitar
Snack Mountain - bass guitar, singing
Kurtis Friedrich - keys
Benlums - bendrums

Take Your Pick

2010-12-30T12:24:00.001-08:00

...lots of work to do yet, but i'm really looking forward to this!

we'll have the LPs available at this show, as well as some great shirts and tote bags and other things that jared has slapped my face all over. bring your spending money!

here's the LP cover, by the way:

Get the Message

2010-12-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

these are two improvised phone messages left for me last night, back-to-back, by a dear old friend.

RSD message 1 by mikeadams

RSD message 2 by mikeadams

Vexations

2010-12-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

I'm not really familiar with this game show, but it seems kind of lame to me. I would, however, love to see a list of "secrets" that the guests brought to the show. I'm guessing there were some real interesting characters in those seats.

I've been learning a bit about John Cale lately and getting excited about his music. Specifically, his pop music. More specifically, the albums Vintage Violence, Paris 1919, and Fear. I'm a pretty casual student in situations like this, and I definitely wouldn't consider myself a fanatic or anything, but this stuff feels really good to me at the moment.

I also really appreciate the way he combines the elements of his experiences in minimalist composition with simple, traditional pop rock elements. Probably my favorite thing about writing music (and I think this is because I'm an untrained ignoramus) is combining a few simple things to create something really complex and beautiful. There's no shortage of folks who are really, really good at that, it's just I think John Cale is one of them.

happy thanksgiving

2010-11-25T18:11:00.000-08:00

the holiday season is fast approaching. actually, it's here, but i'm still catching up, so i'm a couple days behind. In honor of those holidays, the spirit of giving, and the love of music I'd like to announce my participation in this charitable, musical endeavor.

Flannelgraph records has organized a compilation of exclusive, instrumental holiday music, of which all of the proceeds will be donated to charities chosen by the artists. I have a brand new song on the comp and the charity i'll be donating to is Bloomington's own Stepping Stones.

I've become somewhat familiar with Stepping Stones in my tenure as a Bloomington government employee. Stepping Stones provides temporary transitional housing for young people in my area who are dealing with homelessness. The staff is very enthusiastic and realistic and I believe their work has a lot of potential to make a huge difference in the lives of folks who would otherwise be faced with hopelessness. I'm excited to support their cause, and i really would appreciate your help in raising some dough for them. Check out the song, check out the other charities, and please throw a few bucks at us if you can spare before you head out for Black Friday shopping.

-edit-
my track is #2, "Oak Park Lanes", by the way

collecting dust

2010-11-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

In 2005, during some down-time, I recorded an EP's worth of improvised, experimental guitar jams. After sitting on them for a while I released those tunes in a limited edition of 100 3" cd-rs under the name "Mike Adams & His Dust Collectors", the idea being that i didn't really know what to do with such music so it usually ended up lying in a drawer for a rainy day. Up above here is my first attempt at a full-length "Dust Collectors" album. Once again, it's been finished for quite a while, but I'm just now getting around to making them available to all interested parties. No physical version of this music exists, mainly because, once again, i'm kinda stumped and strapped for time in that department.

My main goal with this stuff is to stretch a little bit, artistically. Most of my time with music is spent writing and recording in the "indie-pop" genre and this stuff is just an exercise in what my mind can come up with outside of those (pesky) parameters. I consider working on this more like a sketchbook than a finished piece, but often times i find that the feeling of discovery that goes along with this music is a little more rewarding. Well, maybe not more rewarding, but rewarding in a different way than i'm used to. Like how your mom used to have some big, curly, poofy hair-do the whole time you were a kid, but now she just got it cut into a short, jagged uneven kate-plus-8 kind of thing. it's just as bad, but it's also different and feels like it has some new energy.

One thing i've really wanted to be able to do since i started working on music like this, in this way, was to try to marry this method with my comfortable methods of writing more pop oriented songs. I think the closest i've come to that so far is with "Oscillate Wisely", which is coming out in January.

Hopefully, as i keep looking for inspiration down these kind of improvisational paths, i'll be able to keep it loose while i also steer it gently toward the more rigid songwriting side of things and bring the two modes of discovery together.

Skeletons in the Cloner

2010-10-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Mike Adams, "Skeletons In The Cloner" (acoustic version) 9/26/10 from Flannelgraph Records on Vimeo.

here's a video of me playing live at this year's celebration of Bluesanct's 15th anniversary. (shot by Jared Cheek) This song, Skeletons In The Cloner, will be on a new record called Oscillate Wisely which is being co-released by Flannelgraph / St. Ives Records on January 25. It's a very different version than the one on the record.

Five Man Walk

2010-09-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

deep breath

2010-09-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Helium from Torlando Hakes on Vimeo.

earlier this year i had the pleasure of working with my good, and very creative, friend torlando on this short piece. he wrote, directed, and animated the thing (with his partner, william) and i was responsible for the music. i had a real blast coming up with this tune, although we both agreed that it was a bit of a miss, in the end. i mainly blame that on the amount of time we had with everything. all of this was done on an extreme time budget, for the two of them, and for me. i wrote the music based only on my understanding of the plot line and a few stills that torlando sent to me via e-mail. i think we had two meetings to discuss what the music should be like before i really started working. i also did one revision from the original version i submitted before their deadline approached and we were left with what we had. the main shortfall is that i feel like i didn't quite capture the spirit of the images and the story with the music. i let it get a little too dramatic, and it came off feeling a little too sinister. i'm happy with the music overall, i just think it didn't quite get us to our goal when paired with the video. hopefully next time we'll have a little more time to develop things and let them evolve together. also, i'll hopefully be able to consort with my usual collaborators on our next project together, which i think is the best way for me to work in a situation like this. music for visual media requires much more of a balance of emotion than music that stands alone. you aren't required to paint nearly as much of the picture aurally (duh) and i think two heads are definitely better than one for getting there.

Do You Love Me?

2010-08-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

another relic from the annals of my childhood mind. i especially love the rack-focus during the steel solo, and the curtsey at the end.

Home Stretch

2010-08-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Two accomplishments of note for me this week. First is that the bulk of the tracking for Bro. Stephen's new record "Baptist Girls" is finished. This record seems to have come in spurts, beginning last Fall in Warsaw, then some tracking done this Spring in Bloomington and now, thanks to the lovely and very talented Cheyenne Mize, finished up in the dog days of Summer. It's been a long time coming, and it will still be quite a while before this record sees the light of day, but believe me it's worth the wait. Next we'll move on to decide where the mixing is going to happen and who's going to do it. I've had a good time working on Scott's songs. They make for a really strong melodic structure to get creative around. And, most of them are short, so there's never any threat of belaboring anything. It's a nice and easy way to work. Loads of fun.

Second accomplishment this week (which actually had very little to with me) is that the mastering for my solo record is complete. This record has been about a year-and-a-half in the making. We did the mastering this week with Eric Day at Sleepwalk Recording here in Bloomington. Adam and Eric really impressed me with the amount of life they breathed into these songs and the amount of TLC they spent mixing and mastering this thing. I couldn't be happier with the results or more grateful for these two bums. Treat your friends nice, they probably deserve it. This record should be coming out relatively soon.

And finally in the sad news (for me) category I'm sorry to say that my good friend Adam Jessup, who engineered the first Bro. Steve session, and entirely mixed Oscillate Wisely, just left Indiana today for the great state of Texas. He's become a great friend of mine over the last 2 1/2 years that we've briefly known each other and I'm heartbroken to see him go. I've relied heavily on him professionally and creatively and he'll be sorely missed. I'm sure we'll work together again, but for now, best of luck to Adam and Stephanie.

i'll say she is

2010-07-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

this is beautiful.

this is comical.

this is wild. watch the whole thing.

the winner loses all

2010-07-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

Here are three things i've been very interested in this week:

First is this George Jones song. Namely, this video and performance of this song. It's a really catchy tune that absolutely infects my brain. Apparently, it's done that to millions of people over the years...but I am one sucker that falls prey to it's trappings. Concerning the video, that make-up job on GJ makes him look like a corpse that crawled out of it's casket during his visitation because he forgot he had this one more tv appearance to do real quick. In a good way. I also really love his body language and the way he moves. Very unique and stylized. I'm also jealous of the drummer. Watch him go!

Second is this live bootleg of a Cass Mccombs show from sometime after "Prefection" came out. This show was recorded at the Hideout in Chicago. It had some pretty glaring phase issues when I originally obtained it, but i've fixed those best I could. There are also some interesting tuning defects, which actually adds quite a bit of character to these recordings at times. These versions of the songs are much more laid back and prettier than the originals. Not better, just different. Also, I'm totally into the intense vibrato he exercises on a couple of these performances. I don't know much about Cass Mccombs, which probably has a lot to do with why I still like his music. Musically speaking, I like the decisions he makes. Makes me want to make some decisions of my own.

Last, this song came up randomly in my headphones while I was half asleep on vacation with my family recently. At first, I had a hard time telling what language it was in (and what planet it was from). But, without waking up, the whole song started to get really clear. I was making out some of the lyrics and could begin to anticipate where the music was going. Then I fell asleep completely. I still remembered the experience in the morning, so I guessed it was worth remembering. The performance here is really awesome. Especially the diction and delivery of the lyrics. really cool.

I'm from Claypool, IN...

2010-06-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Where's that?

It's near extinction.

Roger Miller is one of my all-time favorites.

before this game is over, the savior's gonna call out your name

2010-05-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

Elephant Micah - Ambiguous Instincts by mikeadams

i've written about elephant micah on here before, but really i can't get enough of this stuff lately. here's a bootleg recording i did of joe at his "welcome home" show a few weeks ago.

i'm interested lately in the relationship between authenticity, creativity, and value. really, it's all relative, but i'm interested in what those relationships mean to me at the moment and how they inform my decisions. somehow i feel like joe's music plays a part in that debate for me.

while you're dinking around on the internet, you should check out dark dark dark's cover of joe's "wild goose chase" over at daytrotter. it's really nice.

I did not create this body

2010-04-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Mike Adams at his honest weight.

I'm Not Worried by mikeadams

Bad Weather by mikeadams

Last year I spent about two weeks (over the course of a month or so) recording a new solo record. The idea was to write and record an album's worth of material in a short amount of time using some new ideas, as well as some old ideas I had lying around gathering dust. The other idea was "no acoustic guitar". And another idea was that I would play every instrument on the record. Then, another idea was that once I had arranged and recorded all of the songs, I'd wash my hands of it and give it to my friend Adam to do whatever the spirit led him to do as far as mixing the record went. It's taken a long time, since we had no budget and lives to tend to, but I'm happy with the results.

These two tracks are both from that record, which is coming out in the LP format sometime later this year on Flannelgraph Records.

tell it to me in Star Wars

2010-04-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

i definitely prefer the double bass, but this is great nonetheless.

recently had the pleasure of working with Danny Grody on the Laminar Excursion Monthly project. really a talented dude!

3 Victims, One Merdict

2010-03-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Victims by mikeadams

The Victim - AVB

Pug Life

2010-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Here's an example of two things I really like getting together; Joe Pug and Daytrotter.

I met Joe Pug sometime between 2006 and 7 when our mutual friend Jeremy invited him to play at the record shop i owned at the time in our hometown. I was pretty immediately taken with Joe, mostly because he was such a sincerely nice fellow. And when he played his songs at the show, they were also very good. A year or so after that, I tuned into WIUX on my way home from work and heard Joe doing a live session in the studio. I changed course when I heard him playing and headed for the radio station so i could say hello. After the broadcast, Joe and I, along with Joe's friend and tour manager Ian headed over to the waffle house for a bite to eat. It was a real nice dinner, and I had a great time time chatting with those guys. So, that's the biography of Me and Joe Pug.

There are a few things i like about Joe's music. For one, he's a great guitar player. I kind of image Joe playing the guitar kind of like my buddy Frank plays the guitar. Not that they're SRV or anything, but I get the feeling that both of these guys are crafty guitar players because they do it all the time. Like it's a tool they use everyday, so it's kind of a second nature, and I appreciate that. Joe's also a great lyricist. He's very poetic, but I also get the impression that he's using his words to squeeze out the things he's thinking and feeling. Because of that, it feels honest to me. And I think the combination of that, plus having spent some time with Joe and thinking he's a pretty honest dude, gives his music a real cathartic quality to me. Not that i'm even paying attention to the lyrics half the time, but once in a while a line he sings will jump out at me and stick to the wall. His songs are believable, his performance is enchanting and believable, and he's a super nice guy. I wish you would listen to his songs.

And pretty much all of the qualities I've listed here about Joe are the same things i feel about Daytrotter.com and all of the folks I've interacted with over there, namely Sean and Phil. I believe they're honest, and I really appreciate what they do.

this is just a blogpost about two things i like.

Also, my friend Kalah has a tattoo of her dog Gertie that says "Pug Life"

oops, all bloopers

2010-02-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

I've been working on some unusual collaborations lately. Unusual in the sense that I'm working closely with some people that I don't often get the chance to work closely with. It's been nice exercise, and a whole lot of fun. Some of them have been quick, as in the (eventually) 2 hour long recording session with Frank Schweikhardt yesterday for the Laminar Excursion series. Some of them are more involved, like the Sleeping Bag record i'm working on with Dave.
Hopefully, sometime soon I can post the three 30-second spots I helped Bryant with. Quick and dirty, but we have similar sensibilities, so most things went smoothly and came out sounding pretty good (albeit, nervous and out-of-tune).

for now, here's an older recording I sat in on with my main man, Jared Cheek. I played lead guitar, and so did Jared. He also wrote the song and played the organ, and/or keyboard.
Midnight at the Hills Layaway by mikeadams

Sleeping Bag drum tracking:

Oh, by the way, the Bloomington Sandwich Co. has won me over lately. Delicious sandwiches. It's a little pricey, but it's got to be. It ain't Blimpie. Plus, if you share with someone it's really not that bad. They've been giving out free samples of italian ice all week. You'd better hurry before they shut that promo down.

sf59 bootleg

2010-02-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

i'm really glad that someone recorded this. it's a great sounding starflyer 59 live bootleg from 2001, recorded at the door in dallas texas. 20 songs, over an hour long. half solo acoustic, half full-band. songs from silver, gold, americana, the fashion focus, everybody makes mistakes, and leave here a stranger (their newest album at the time). not to mention great live versions of ep nights and next time around. i'm a real geek for this stuff, but really it's a great recording of starflyer, arguably, at their live peak. really glad to have it.

link

Spelunkering

2010-02-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

Old Friends - Roger Miller

stoned ageein.

2010-01-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Timmy Page

2009-12-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

Tim bow 058 by mikeadams

i'm putting the finishing touches on the husband&wife contribution to the Laminar Excursion Monthly project right now. i've been in a whirlwind of "first thought, best thought" recording and mixing since last weekend. it's been really thrilling, and a nice change of pace.

during one of the mixing sessions i ran across this gem that was recorded as an after-thought in addition to the live tracking we had done for one of the songs. it sits nicely in the mix, and does it's job, but i thought it was a shame that the world would never hear it holding it's own, so i decided to leave it here if anyone should find it. this is tim felton playing one live guitar track.

we are all butt-made

2009-11-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Life But No More - Frank Schwe...

i am a fine musician, i travel 'round the world

2009-11-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

Who do you think-mom and dad by mikeadams

this is a christmas tune that my parents recorded for a compilation we put together in 2004. there aren't a lot of recordings like this of my folks, but this kind of thing was normal to hear in my house growing up.

well, i'll fight it

2009-11-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

There Is A Time by mikeadams

here is another (and the final) B-side from the "I Am One of Them and So Are You" sessions. i really love this song, and kind of had to record a cover of it just to squeeze it out of my brain and participate in it in some way. sorry if there are any folks who feel like i ruined it! i understand where you're coming from.

selected works in progress
-have fun
-continue work on bro stephen record

a thing or two

2009-10-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

i really love (and highly recommend) this record

(current) favorite restaurants in bloomington, IN
#1 smoking jack's rib shack
#2 naughty dog
#3 mother bear's pizza
#4 cafe pizzaria
#5 falafels

still never been to (and not in a hurry to get to):
farm

to do list
-celebrate (3rd) anniversary this weekend without thinking of other things on this list
-settle on name for 3" sub series
-finish bro stephen record
-finish/collab on new husband&wife album, proud flesh
-brainstorm art ideas for same
-mix xrafest nite 2 audio
-finish reading 'the right stuff'
-goad adam to finish honest weight
-buy quikrete and fill possum hole in foundation
-finish studio/warehouse organization

i spent the latter part of this evening walking around downtown bloomington and chatting with my friend seth. it was just about the perfect end to this long (but fine) day. i'm really looking forward to next weekend's parties and hang sessions. i've been missing a few of my friends lately and it will be a nice refreshment to see them again. are you one?

are you done boys?

2009-10-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

just returned home last night from a 4-day weekend recording the new Bro. Stephen album. we (myself, scott k, and adam j) took a trip 3 hours north and set up a makeshift recording studio in one of my granddad's barns. (i've only got the one granddad these days, but he's got several barns, i mean) i've wanted to do this for a long time now, and it was cool that scott was the sucker who finally went for the idea. the songs and the environment suited each other. we barreled through 16 songs in ~4 days. all of the main tracking - acoustic guitar and voice - was done live, then scott and i took turns harmonizing, then adam and i took turns doing other stupid stuff like trying to play violas and guitars tuned only to G. it was a marathon, but we got all of the important stuff taken care of. now we'll bring it back to bloomington and finish it up.
here are some highlights.

then, this morning, i woke up at 9:30a and got myself around to drive the 45 minutes to cloverdale, IN. i met my grandpa there. he was going to a racehorse auction and that sounded like something i didn't want to miss. it was awesome. huge pole barn, hundreds of quarter horses and thoroughbreds, and two of the most animated auctioneers i've ever seen. it was a total blast. i had to leave before granddad put in a bid, but before i left i saw two HORSES sell for over $20,000. (although most of them went for around $1,500). it was insane, and i can't wait to go again. if anyone wants to go to some horse races this spring, give me a call.

selected works in progress
- finish bro stephen records
- mix XRA fest recordings (night 2)
- come up with dust collectors artwork idea
- re-organize home studio (space save)
- try to relax for once, and go on a date

B 4......before what?

2009-10-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is a B-side and rarity from the I Am One Of Them, And So Are You recording sessions. It's called Thousands of Boy Scouts and it's a collaboration between myself and my good friend Jared Cheek. Jared run's a record label called Flannelgraph Records.

Thousands Of Boy Scouts by mikeadams

Oscillate Wisely

2009-09-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

I've finished all of the sound-related work on the new Mike Adams & his dust collectors album. It's called I Am One Of Them, And So Are You. Now I just have to do all the other stuff; figure out how I want to release it, what kind of artwork I want it to have, and how to get some people to listen to it. It's not exactly a high priority right now, so odds are that it will continue to sit in a drawer until a rainy day.

Mike Adams & his dust collectors - I Am One Of Them, And So Are You
1. Vinegar, I Hardly Know Her (5:10)
2. Candy Like A Fox (12:00)
3. They Don't Call You The Divining Rod (2:55)
4. Oscillate Wisely (6:28)
5. Michael Is My Middle Name (5:39)
6. The Bottom Is Where The Deepest Fish Go (9:00)

You can hear the first track right now, though. My good friend Nathan Vollmar used it to soundtrack a (very good) short he recently made. Here it is, it's called "Meatloaf".

selected works in progress:
- XRA records warehouse arrangement
- prayer breakfast debut full-length
- mike adams at his honest weight plain waves LP
- husband&wife proud flesh demos
- dust collectors plan of attack