indigo girls

The Indigo Girls graduated to the majors with the spiritual folk rock fire of this confrontational catharsis.  Amy Ray and Emily Saliers met in elementary school and began performing together in high school in the Decatur suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.  After going to college in different states, they both returned to Atlanta and transferred to Emory University.  It was there that they began performing as the Indigo Girls.  They recorded their debut album 'Strange Fire' at John Keane Studio in Athens, Georgia and released it on independent Canadian label Indigo Records.  With the attention they received, they were signed to Epic Records and set to work on recording their eponymous major label debut at Ocean Way in Los Angeles; John Keane Studios in Athens, GA.; and Can Am Studios in Tarzana, CA with producer Scott Litt, who had just produced R.E.M.'s 'Green' album.    The sessions featured Amy Ray on lead vocals and guitars; and Emily Saliers on lead vocals, guitars, twelve string electric guitar on 2, lead electric guitar on 6;  with Peter O'Toole on mandolin on 1 & 2, and backing vocals on 1;  Fiachna Ó Braonáin on tin whistle on 1, backing vocals on 1, and Hammond organ on 2; Liam Ó Maonlaí on bodhrán on 1, and backing vocals on 1; Luka Bloom on backing vocals on 1; Paulinho Da Costa on percussion on 1, 2, 4, & 8; Dede Vogt on bass on 2, 3, 7, & 10; Jay Dee Daugherty on drums on 2, 4, & 8; John Keane on twelve string electric guitar on 3, bass on 4, shaker on 6, slide guitar on 8, 9, and bass drum on 9; Michael Stipe on backing vocals on 3; Bill Berry on drums on 6; Peter Buck on electric guitar on 6; Mike Mills on bass on 6; Jai Winding on piano on 7; Kasim Sulton on bass on 8; and John Van Tongeren on keyboards on 10. 

Saliers reveals:   "I knew it was fun from the very first time we played together...I'm a very fortunate person and I'm really happy to be in this world.  Both Amy and I feel that way even though our music is perceived as heavy. We don't think of our songs as either somber or negative because we really do have a hopeful attitude about the world...I just never thought we'd make a career of it...We both grew up exposed to religious sources.  You can use the Bible strictly as literature or you can use it as a sacred text. It all kind of works together ... Music is, um, it's physical, it's got, you know, your heartbeat, it's got rhythms, it's got space, it's a physiological reality along with a mystical reality. So it's metaphysical. There's not many things to in life you can point to and go that's metaphysical, but music is."

Ray reflects:   "It's funny 'cause you can find God in music when you're gathered together singing a song, but also there are moments that I've had seeing people perform where it's just: that's God. It's like they're not God, but God's there...There's just these moments and it's not the personality of the musicians anymore. Something's disappeared and the music and the audience and everything is merged and there's no separation between performer and audience. That is what spirituality is supposed to be." 

'Indigo Girls' went to number twenty two on the Billboard 200 album chart and won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.  The duo was also nominated for Best New Artist.  The album has been certified double platinum.   









http://www.indigogirls.com/







"Closer to Fine" (Emily Saliers) – 4:02
features backing from the band Hothouse Flowers.  It became their breakthrough hit and remains their best known song.  Saliers says:    "All of my songs, they're a combination of real experiences and what I observe through other people's behavior and experience. I was with my family in Vermont, and we were sitting in this rustic cabin, and I was sitting on a front porch and looking out into the trees, which, you know, whenever you're in such a bucolic setting, it can make you feel very philosophical. So that's how I was feeling. And that song is about not beating yourself up too hard to get your answer from one place. There's no panacea, that in order to be balanced or feel closer to fine it's okay to draw from this or to draw from that, to draw from a bunch of different sources. So it's about being confused but looking for the answers, and in the end knowing that you're going to be fine. No seeking just one definitive answer."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUgwM1Ky228


I'm trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
The best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously, it's only life after all
Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it, I'm crawling on your shore.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper
And I was free.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
I went in seeking clarity.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

We go to the bible, we go through the workout
We read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine



"Secure Yourself" (Amy Ray) – 3:35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1IWN3wjEEg



"Kid Fears" (Ray) – 4:34
features Michael Stipe on backing vocals.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6zm704DLkE



"Prince of Darkness" (Saliers) – 5:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY9-98tkfvg



"Blood and Fire" (Ray) – 4:38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjXZ3N7b4k



"Tried to Be True" (Ray) – 2:59
features the rest of R.E.M.
"Love's Recovery" (Saliers) – 4:23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4iosxEmOHk




"Land of Canaan" (Ray) – 3:57



"Center Stage" (Ray) – 4:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2A11sVZ3kY



"History of Us" (Saliers) – 5:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Xw5DRR2-s







full album




"Closer to Fine" (Emily Saliers) – 4:02
"Secure Yourself" (Amy Ray) – 3:35
"Kid Fears" (Ray) – 4:34
"Prince of Darkness" (Saliers) – 5:21
"Blood and Fire" (Ray) – 4:38
"Tried to Be True" (Ray) – 2:59
"Love's Recovery" (Saliers) – 4:23
"Land of Canaan" (Ray) – 3:57
"Center Stage" (Ray) – 4:46
"History of Us" (Saliers) – 5:27

it's my way!

Buffy Sainte-Marie cut her own path with the revelatory folk reflections of her stunning and strident debut.  Born Beverly Sainte-Marie on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada; she was adopted by her relatives Albert and Winifred Sainte-Marie in Wakefield, Massachusetts after being orphaned.  She taught herself to play guitar and piano and began writing songs about her Native American heritage.  As she became involved in the folk scene in coffeehouses in Toronto's old Yorkville district and New York City's Greenwich Village, Sainte-Marie drew the attention of various record companies.  'It's My Way' was produced by Maynard Solomon for Vanguard Records and features Buffy Sainte-Marie on vocals, guitar, and arrangements;    Patrick Sky on guitar on "He Lived Alone in Town"; and Art Davis on bass on "Now That the Buffalo's Gone".  The album did not chart; but it proved to be hugely influential in the peace movement with its politically charged lyrics and unique perspective on Native American issues.  

Sainte-Marie considers:  "When I first got a guitar after a lifetime of self-taught piano playing, I never had anyone to show me how to play guitar. So I made up my own chords in my own tunings, which gave distinct flavour to the music. I had a different tuning for every song at first, or I used a certain tuning for similar songs...My own songs were reviewed as not only intellectually valid but also steeped in real emotion, and few singers/writers used both the brains and the guts of a song to shine that way...I love both the inspiration part of songwriting and the crafting- editing- perspiration part...Yorkville wasn't the collection of rich-folks' boutiques that it is now. It was like Greenwich Village then, a little rundown, kinda beat up and shabby, very un-fancy and full of students, poets, guitar-players and old beatniks. When I was playing the Purple Onion coffeehouse, it was before the hippies had emerged. The Toronto establishment found all this student action a bit suspect, since they didn't control it and it had sprouted on its own...The art of the protest song is a tricky genre where the music and emotion and lyrical facts have to be just right or you're wasting your time. Sometimes one will defeat the other so that either the message gets lost in the music, or it can turn into a wordy lecture, or an emotional tirade. For me, all those things need to take a back seat to the overarching effectiveness. It's very special and real tricky, and very easy to drown the baby in the bath water."





http://buffysainte-marie.com/






'Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life' 
(2008 documentary)





https://myspace.com/buffysaintemarie/music/album/it-s-my-way-18971900


http://www.last.fm/music/Buffy+Sainte-Marie/It%27s+My+Way!



    "Now That the Buffalo's Gone"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCWJYTCfjSg



Can you remember the times
That you have held your head high
And told all your friends of your Indian claim
Proud good lady and proud good man
Some great great grandfather from Indian blood came
And you feel in your heart for these ones

Oh it's written in books and in song
That we've been mistreated and wronged
Well over and over I hear those same words
From you good lady and you good man
Well listen to me if you care where we stand
And you feel you're a part of these ones

When a war between nations is lost
The loser we know pays the cost
But even when Germany fell to your hands
Consider dear lady, consider dear man
You left them their pride and you left them their land
And what have you done to these ones

Has a change come about my dear man
Or are you still taking our lands
A treaty forever your senators sign
They do dear lady, they do dear man
And the treaties are broken again and again
And what will you do for these ones

Oh it's all in the past you can say
But it's still going on here today
The governments now want the Navaho land
That of the Inuit and the Cheyenne
It's here and it's now you can help us dear man
Now that the buffalo's gone

    "Cripple Creek"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvyzbZttFBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCXPqRLVpY&feature=kp



    "The Universal Soldier"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZ9QAosNTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27x25sdW9wQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6imjvgJFvM


He’s 5 foot 2 and he’s 6 feet 4
He fights with missiles and with spears
He’s all of 31 and he’s only 17.
He’s been a soldier for a thousand years

He’s a catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist, and a Baptist and Jew.
And he knows he shouldn’t kill
And he knows he always will kill
You’ll for me my friend and me for you

And He’s fighting for Canada.
He’s fighting for France.
He’s fighting for the USA.
And he’s fighting for the Russians.
And he’s fighting for Japan
And he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way.

And He’s fighting for democracy,
He’s fighting for the reds
He says it’s for the peace of all.
He’s the one, who must decide,
who’s to live and who’s to die.
And he never sees the writing on the wall.

But without him,
how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He’s the one who gives his body
as a weapon of the war.
And without him all this killing can’t go on

He’s the universal soldier
And he really is the blame
His orders comes from
far away no more.

They come from him.
And you and me.
And brothers can’t you see.
This is not the way we put an end to war








It's My Way
full album:




Side 1
"Now That the Buffalo's Gone"
"The Old Man's Lament"
"Ananias"
"Mayoo Sto Hoon"
"Cod'ine"
"Cripple Creek"
"The Universal Soldier"
Side 2
"Babe in Arms"
"He Lived Alone in Town"
"You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond"
"The Incest Song"
"Eyes of Amber"
"It's My Way"

things fall apart

The Roots stepped into the realm and found their greatest success with the organic neo soul hip hop jazz hybridization of this ambitious artistic statement. Ahmir ‘Questlove/?uestlove’ Thompson and Tariq ‘Black Thought’ Trotter met at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and began performing on street corners with Black Thought rapping while Questlove drummed on buckets.  They originally called themselves "Radio Activity" and then "Black to the Future" before becoming the Square Roots.  They dropped the Square because another group in Philadelphia was using the name and released their first album 'Organix' in 1992 on the independent Remedy label.  'Do You Want More?' and 'Illadelph Half-Life' followed on DGC Records. 

 'Things Fall Apart' was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York and credits The Roots as composer and primary artist;  with ?uestlove as assistant engineer, composer, mixing, mixing assistant, and producer; Scott Spencer Storch as composer, engineer, keyboardist, and producer;  Anthony Tidd as composer and guitarist;  James Poyser as composer, keyboardist, and producer;  Smart Abdul-Basit as composer; Erykah Badu as guest artist and on vocals;  Byron Berline, Black Thought, and Larry Brown as composers;  Bob Powers on synthesizer;  Mos Def as guest artist and on vocals;  Jazzyfatnastees as guest artist;  Chaos assistant engineer and producer;  Common as guest artist and on vocals;    D'Angelo as guest artist and on keyboards;  Marie Daulne on background vocals;  Eve Of Destruction as guest artist;  Todd Fairall as engineer;  Larry Gold on viola; Kenny J. Gravillis and Russell A. Robinson on artwork and design;  Igor Szwec on violin;  Ursula Rucker as composer and on poetry;  Buster Williams, Jill Scott, E. Smith, Kamiah "Little Klang" Gray, Leonard Hubbard, Karl Jenkins, and Doc Pomus as composers;  Kamal as producer; and Francesca Spero and Richard Nichols as executive producers. 

The album takes its title from the novel by Chinua Achebe which quotes the phrase from William Butler Yeats's poem 'The Second Coming'. Black Thought would reveal at the time: "The sound hasn't really changed as much as it has broadened. It's become more refined, and it's more universal...When I say organic, and when I say jazz, I just mean music, like hip-hop music, in its rawest form: no additives, no preservatives, grown from the foundation naturally...We have used sampling on every record. But no record that we put out has been predominantly samples. Most of the time we are sampling ourselves. We will come up with an original move, play it, sample it and then loop it. The fact that we are able to play our own music brings a different flavor into the mix, kind of like the Beastie Boys do their shit, you know what I mean?...When we do samples, we are sampling ourselves. That's how we are still able to say we are 100% live...Things Fall Apart represents the state of music in general right now and how things are stagnant. No, I take that back, I wouldn't say things are stagnant. Things are moving swiftly, but it's in the wrong direction...Let's just deal with hip‑hop: that's my demographic. I make hip‑hop first and foremost. The shit that's coming out that people are calling hip‑hop, music purists wouldn't consider hip‑hop music at all, because a lot of it goes against all ethics of the original art form. First and foremost, hip-hop is about being original. Ninety percent of this shit that I hear on the radio, or at a club, or thumping out of people's cars is some unoriginal shit: formulated, and just recycled and recycled. Nobody is making any more original music, to the point where we are exhausting all of our resources. Everything you hear, you immediately know who originally made the music, you immediately realize that the original record that the music came from was far better. It's a step down, and that's not adding on, that's not bringing shit to the table. The principles of hip‑hop mean adding on like this: I got this dope style that nobody ever used before, or I thought of this shit and I thought of this rhyme, or I thought of how to break the syllables down this way. That is what hip‑hop is about, and that has long been lost. It's about motherfuckers bringing that shit back. So that is what I'm talking about."

'Things Fall Apart' went to ninety-two in the Netherlands, eighty-four in the UK, sixty-four in Germany, forty-one in France, forty in Switzerland, seven in Canada, four on the US billboard 200, and number two on the US R&B album chart.   The album was originally released with five different covers.   Fourteen years later, 'Things Fall Apart' was certified platinum. 






http://theroots.com/





'You Got Me'  features vocals by Erykah Badu and Eve (of Destruction) and was co-written by Jill Scott, who originally did the guest vocals.   MCA Records made the band re-record the vocals with the more well known singers to give it a wider appeal as a single.  The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.  The single went to number forty-six in the Netherlands, thirty-nine on the US pop chart, thirty-seven in New Zealand, thirty-one in the UK, twenty-eight in France, twenty-five in Germany, nineteen on the US rap chart, fifteen in Switzerland, and number eleven on the US R&B chart. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCHeEQV454

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQm5gNo-5Vo










 'Things Fall Apart' 
full album:

https://myspace.com/theroots/music/album/things-fall-apart-8134786‎



01 Act Won (Things Fall Apart) 00:00
02 Table of Contents (Parts 1 & 2) 00:54
03 The Next Movement 04:31
04 Step Into the Realm 08:41
05 The Spark 11:30
06 Dynamite! 15:23
07 Without a Doubt 20:09
08 Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New 24:24
09 Double Trouble 28:58
10 Act Too (The Love of My Life) 34:48
11 100% Dundee 39:43
12 Diedre vs. Dice 43:36
13 Adrenaline! 44:23
14 3rd Acts. vs. Scratch 2...Electric Boogaloo 48:51
15 'You Got Me' 49:42
16 Don't See Us 54:02
17 The Return to Innocence Lost 58:32

out to lunch!

Eric Dolphy reached the culmination of his powers with the genre bending avante jazz of this unhinged otherworldly swansong.  'Out To Lunch!' was his first record after signing with Blue Note Records.  He had recorded two albums with producer Alan Douglas ('Iron Man' and 'Conversations') which were his first sessions with vibes man Bobby Hutcherson.  Hutcherson came along with Dolphy for the recording of 'Out To Lunch!' with producer Alfred Lion at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.   The album features Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, flute, and alto saxophone; Freddie Hubbard on trumpet; Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone; Richard Davis on bass; and Tony Williams on drums.  

Dolphy would go on tour with Thelonius Monk when 'Out To Lunch!' was complete.  He died in Berlin on June 29, 1964 after collapsing into a diabetic coma.  Dolphy would consider:   "When you hear music, after it’s over, it’s gone, in the air, you can never capture it again."






http://www.ericdolphy.net/







'Out To Lunch!'
full album:



All compositions by Eric Dolphy.
"Hat and Beard" – 8:24
"Something Sweet, Something Tender" – 6:02
"Gazzelloni" – 7:22
"Out to Lunch" – 12:06
"Straight Up and Down" – 8:19

it's too late to stop now

Van Morrison revealed the soulful power of his passion with these rapturous renditions of his repertoire and the music that inspired him.  He recorded 'It's Too Late to Stop Now' with the eleven piece Caledonia Soul Orchestra at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, California; the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium; and at The Rainbow in London during the summer of 1973. The lineup featured Van Morrison on vocals; Teressa "Terry" Adams on cello; Bill Atwood on trumpet and backing vocals; Nancy Ellis on viola; Tom Halpin on violin; David Hayes on bass guitar and backing vocals; Tim Kovatch on violin; Jef Labes on piano and organ; John Platania on guitar and backing vocals; Nathan Rubin on first violin; Jack Schroer on alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, tambourine, and backing vocals; and Dahaud Shaar (David Shaw) on drums and  backing vocals.  Morrison co-produced the album with  Ted Templeman.  

Morrison would expound:    "It's on Warner Brothers Records, it's a double set. Yeah, a two record set is what it is, contains live performances of things you've heard before and other things that I don't know if you've heard. It's done live, songs that were on albums and they came out very different live. Other songs that were written by other people. There is a Ray Charles song on it, a Sam Cooke song, a Sonny Boy Williamson and a Bert Berns song. ...  "I am getting more into performing. It's incredible. When I played Carnegie Hall in the fall something just happened. All of a sudden I felt like 'you're back into performing' and it just happened like that...A lot of times in the past I've done gigs and it was rough to get through them. But now the combination seems to be right and it's been clicking a lot. ... Yeah, well, I'm, I'm gettin' to, uh, I'm gettin into being back on the road because I'm lookin' at it from a different point of view. Like, this is kinda lookin' from this viewpoint of, that this is what you're doing now, y'know, I mean, this is what's happening now, um, rather than trying to fit it into any, um, kinda forum about songs that are off certain albums, or, uh, uh, but just playing, y'know, like, uh, how it feels, y'know, how does it feel, y'know, I mean, this is it, y'know. So you're in Detroit, and this is how it feels in Detroit, y'know, and ya' play whatever you feel, um, you'll play, rather than, uh, play, uh, y'know, 12 songs off two albums ya' just did, y'know, so... See, I was goin' at 'em, goin' at it from that angle before, and uh, it was gettin' draggey, y'know...Yeah. I enjoyed doin' [Them songs], y'know, it was a gas doin' 'em because I hadn't done 'em for about 8 or 9 years, y'know, so it was like fresh material at that point.... I like playing music. It's really a physical thing, it's why I got into it in the first place – my body has to play music, it has to come through me, I have to get it out of my system. My body needs to have exercise, my body needs to have sex, my body needs to play music. That's why I'm doing it."

'It's Too Late to Stop Now' went to number fifty-three on the US album chart.  





http://www.vanmorrison.com/





'It's Too Late to Stop Now'
full album:



Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now (Live) from floriploiesteanu on Vimeo.


All songs written by Van Morrison unless noted.

Side one
00:00    "Ain't Nothin' You Can Do" (Deadric Malone, Joseph Scott) – 3:44
03:37    "Warm Love" – 3:04
06:41    "Into the Mystic" – 4:33
11:06    "These Dreams of You" – 3:37
14:38    "I Believe to My Soul" (Ray Charles) – 4:09
Side two
18:44    "I've Been Working" – 3:56
22:38    "Help Me" (Sonny Boy Williamson II, Ralph Bass, Willie Dixon) – 3:25
25:38    "Wild Children" – 5:04
30:35    "Domino" – 4:48
35:06    "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Dixon) – 5:16
Side three
40:00    "Bring It On Home to Me" (Sam Cooke) – 4:42
44:32    "Saint Dominic's Preview" – 6:18
50:46    "Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket" (Williamson II) – 4:04
54:45    "Listen to the Lion" – 8:43
Side four
1:03:21 "Here Comes the Night" (Bert Berns) – 3:14
1:06:33 "Gloria" – 4:16
1:10:29 "Caravan" – 9:20
1:19:18 "Cyprus Avenue" – 10:20

Setlist:
0:00:00 - Heathrow Shuffle
0:03:58 - Ain't Nothing You Can Do
0:07:13 - Warm Love
0:11:03 - Snow In San Anselmo
0:15:58 - Help Me
0:19:35 - Into The Mystic
0:24:26 - I Believe To My Soul
0:29:01 - Moondance
0:35:05 - Foggy Mountain Top
0:41:19 - Street Choir
0:46:35 - Listen To The Lion
0:55:59 - I've Been Working
1:02:02 - I Just Want To Make Love To You
1:08:47 - Interview
1:21:16 - Listen To The Lion
1:31:04 - Gloria
1:35:15 - I've Been Working

keep it like a secret

Built To Spill implemented the plan and paired things down to coalesce into a more focused fuzz for the noisepop nuggets that comprise this shimmering indie treasure.  The trio had made a dramatic leap in their sound with their major label debut 'Perfect From Now On' with much longer songs that featured extended guitar jams.  The followup 'Keep It Like a Secret' was recorded at Bear Creek studios in Woodinville, Washington by Phil Ek, with overdubs at Avast! Recording Co. in Seattle, Washington.  The sessions featured Doug Martsch on vocals and guitar, Brett Nelson on bass, and Scott Plouf on drums.  

Martsch recalls:  "'Keep It Like a Secret', that was really collaborative. When we were working on 'Keep It Like a Secret', rehearsals were just us messing around and they weren't structured. Sometimes we'd be playing different instruments, and sometimes someone would have an idea and we'd all play off of that. Probably about half of the record was built out of jams and we'd just record hours of practicing. And then I'd go back and listen to the tape and find interesting parts and we'd build on those."

Nelson considers:   "'Keep It Like a Secret' was just a lot of jamming and writing our own parts and then Doug had ideas for specific bass parts and drum parts and we were just trying to match sounds that Doug gets in his head. He'll describe, like, 'I wanted this part to be a certain way.' And we try to make it sound that way as best as we can. Or Doug'll play something and a melody will pop into my head and I'll try to figure that melody out for the bass part."

Plouf says:  "We would just go in there and somebody would just start playing. And everybody else would try and figure out what to do. Or even changing instruments around, or just being completely lazy that day, and everybody's just basically a hack and it sounds terrible. And you have five hours of total junk. But it's necessary to eventually get to a place where there's something good. We would just be sort of jamming around and Doug had a foot pedal that would turn the tape machine on, to start recording. Whenever things started clicking with all three of us, he would start recording. And then when it started going bad, he would just turn it off. Because we'd be playing for like four or five hours. And then he'd get like an hour-and-a-half worth of stuff that we thought sounded good while we were playing. And then Doug would go back and re-listen to it, and be a little bit more particular — pick like a five-second part, like, 'Oh, that's a good part' — and dump these all down onto one master cassette tape. And then slowly dump all those into songs somehow."

'Keep It Like a Secret' became the band's first album to chart, peaking at number one hundred and twenty.  







http://www.builttospill.com/





vinyl only: "Forget Remember When"

 'Keep It Like a Secret'
full album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFZSXc6wH0A



"The Plan" -- 0:00
"Center of the Universe" -- 3:30
"Carry the Zero" -- 6:14
"Sidewalk" -- 11:57
"Bad Light" -- 15:51
"Time Trap" -- 19:14
"Else" -- 24:33
"You Were Right" -- 28:43
"Temporarily Blind" -- 33:30
"Broken Chairs" -- 38:21