Questions for Jason

[jason]

Also what up with the EP you did with Earlimart? I heard someone posted it awhile back and it was removed..... I need to get my hands on it... Where can I do that? I will pay you

I gave Aaron my blessing on this EP

I think it got removed because they were crap rough mixes floating around.
It has since been mixed and mastered ...and my guess is that Aaron will make it available a little bit after my record is available( which is supposed to be April 09)

bleep

[jason]

My question for Jason is this....how do you deal with knee pain? I tore my ACL years ago and it hurts like a bitch in the winter. I read you fucked up your ACL too, and I was wondering if you limp around town when the air gets brisk and the wind blows frost. Frankly, I'm tired of stiffening up whilst trying to cross streets littered with heavy traffic. My other knee still works, but at the rate I'm going I'm gonna lose it in a freakish bicycle accident. Any advice?

I have found that immobility is my biggest enemy. Like long flights, long drives,sitting down to a meal, long bouts
at the computer....thats when things get the stiffest ,and painful .....whatever I can do to lessen that is good. (stay moving .....keep the hinges greased and active)
Regular stretching is very good too......Although my best method has been bicycling...as far as keeping my leg conditioned and "stronger".....

Other than that its also good to learn your limits....and know that it just fucking hurts.
And those days where you "push it" too hard....you're gonna have to pay for later.
(but that can be said for a lot of things)

[pdf]

hey jason, sorry about this question, it's not very specific but i would be stoked if you considered it (and then told me to sober up and go shopping for cats) -

- is sound something you experience primarily in time or in space? yeah, i know about space/time but what i mean is, for you, is it mostly a time based experience, an event, or a spatial experience, an object?

for sound synthesists and composers this question isn't as full of crap as it may first seem ...i hope... yeah, regretting that one already, so here is a proper question -

if you plan to play amsterdam could you see that the label arrange the tour dates alphabetically and not in the very typical, old school, country by country system.

[Alzado]

I'm surprised to hear that you use soft synths...not because I think there's anything wrong with them, but because I guess I figured that you would be a guy that prefers the older analogue machines.

that assumption was based on one of the overarching themes in your Grandaddy lyrics - our relationship with technology and our continued effort to find warm moments, even when we have no one to turn to but the machines that do our tasks.

modern day DIY music production involves a lot of time immersed in technology. do you ever get tired of all the chords, buttons and display screens and feel the urge to leave it behind for weeks at a time?

[highnucka]

APRIL 2009!!!!



The wait is killing me. At least I have Christmas on Mars to look forward to in a few days!

There is my next ?

Have you seen the movie or heard the soundtrack for Christmas on Mars from the flaming lips?

If so, what was your reaction?

[jason]

is sound something you experience primarily in time or in space? yeah, i know about space/time but what i mean is, for you, is it mostly a time based experience, an event, or a spatial experience, an object?

for sound synthesists and composers this question isn't as full of crap as it may first seem ...i hope... yeah, regretting that one already, so here is a proper question -

if you plan to play amsterdam could you see that the label arrange the tour dates alphabetically and not in the very typical, old school, country by country system.

jeez ...that question hurt my head.
Sound for me seems to exist in the movie theatre section of my brain , so whatever that may be.
Time is acoustic guitars ,bass and drums and the clicking of the clock or calendar .
If I had the ability to REALLY answer that question ....I dont think I would be able to get anything done.

[jason]

modern day DIY music production involves a lot of time immersed in technology. do you ever get tired of all the chords, buttons and display screens and feel the urge to leave it behind for weeks at a time

........I use whatever is most fitting for the occasion ....
actually I almost never use synths within the computer....although I do have some great sounding digital
Sound modules that are considered "analog modelling ".
The more options on a unit for "sound-shaping " the more I prefer to use it.
It is true though that my older analog models have a comforting sound (when used alone) that most
of the other sound generators cant get.

i dont like to practice. I dont spend endless hours tweaking knobs. I dont read books on song writing. I really try to go into a project looking at a peice of gear with "excitement " or "wonder" ....so I wont be bored with it. I rarely even play guitar unless Im working on something specific, or playing shows. Thats why Im not very technically proficient. But my limited ability often is justified by how enthused and focused I am when Im working on something.

[misterpleasant]

back to that minimalist music thing back there...
some other classicAlll stuff you might like is:

"the chairman dances" by composer John Adams (nonesuch)
this dude Marc Mellits is cool too (kind steve reichish, but different...whatever).

then on a new age note:

"between two worlds" by patrick o'hearn (youtube "forever the optimist")
"hoodoo zephyr" by John adams (like vangelis but weirder)

then these albums on the understream note:

"naturally" by jj cale
"oar" by skip spence
"ground troube jaw" by richard swift
"fewer moving parts" by david bazan

is yer album basically d-o-n-e? did you play everythang on it?

and finally...(you're probably done reading)
do you know a guy named billy from modesto? used to have a mohawk in high school. straight teeth. we just got off tour with stereolab and he was along for the ride. maybe you guys grew up togethies? whatevies.

thanks for making music that makes me do things.
j.osh

[Ron_S]

aw, don't be modest-o there Jason. See, I think he's a dang good guitar player. There are many levels of guitar ability. Some of the most proficient ones I know, don't have one original idea in their heads. They can do an the mechanical moves, but that isn't always music. There is a whole culture of bass players that suffer from this problem. They never hit a bad note, but they don't necessarily play any good ones either. One of the guys who plays on my records is very good, but you don't give him chord sheets. He just listens and something magic comes out of his fingers.

Synths are a funny thing. Every time I get a new one, I write a song... then I have to get to know it better so I can use it in other situations. I have a few softs synths I use, but they are never as fun as a piece of hardware. There is a free software synth called Crystal, which I find interesting. It is pretty deep, but what it does, is combines the parameters from two different patches, and creates a new sound. I think you can control various aspects, but who know. My software mellotron probably gets the most use.

if you are interested in hearing what I do when I'm not recording Tom Petty Covers http://www.careerrecords.com/artists/armchairexplorers/armchair_explorers-1.html

There are hours of this stuff in the vault, some will be on a film soundtrack I've done

other suggested listening: Eno: Discreet Music, Music For Airports, Another Green World

modern day DIY music production involves a lot of time immersed in technology. do you ever get tired of all the chords, buttons and display screens and feel the urge to leave it behind for weeks at a time

........I use whatever is most fitting for the occasion ....
actually I almost never use synths within the computer....although I do have some great sounding digital
Sound modules that are considered "analog modelling ".
The more options on a unit for "sound-shaping " the more I prefer to use it.
It is true though that my older analog models have a comforting sound (when used alone) that most
of the other sound generators cant get.

i dont like to practice. I dont spend endless hours tweaking knobs. I dont read books on song writing. I really try to go into a project looking at a peice of gear with "excitement " or "wonder" ....so I wont be bored with it. I rarely even play guitar unless Im working on something specific, or playing shows. Thats why Im not very technically proficient. But my limited ability often is justified by how enthused and focused I am when Im working on something.

[Blastik]

I have found that immobility is my biggest enemy. Like long flights, long drives,sitting down to a meal, long bouts
at the computer....thats when things get the stiffest ,and painful .....whatever I can do to lessen that is good. (stay moving .....keep the hinges greased and active)
Regular stretching is very good too......Although my best method has been bicycling...as far as keeping my leg conditioned and "stronger".....

Other than that its also good to learn your limits....and know that it just fucking hurts.
And those days where you "push it" too hard....you're gonna have to pay for later.
(but that can be said for a lot of things)

Oh, you know I push it to the limit with all of my activities. Shopping for ice cream? Take it to the limit. Searching for the remote? Take it to the limit. Gin & Tonics? Beyond the limit. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna be the first person on the planet to pull a groin drinking vodka. Or maybe you've done something like that? Shit, yeah....