A Sundress & A Mistake

Recorded Nov/Dec 2023 for Jon Solomon's 25 hour Holiday Radio Show Marathon on WPRB.

josh & garth
with emily (additional vocals), gary gahan (tenor saxophone), & billie howard (viola & violin).

http://marathon.christmas // http://therutabega.com

lyrics:
we learn about the son of god
on the 7th day
we learn to sit and pay attention
to mary's legs

we learn to read the holy books
at least the holy parts of them

and when we've learned it all
we start over

we learn to do things by ourselves
push him down the ladder
we learn to count
on everything that doesn't matter

and when we've learned it all
we start over

you said by stripes
but when do we heal?
when do we heal?

we start over

The Fall for Pat

1. Baby Again, Fred Again, Skrillex & Four Set 2. Vamanos, Moojo & Gabsy 3. Gold Teeth, Bontan 4. Beggin, Chris Lake & Aluna 5. Fly Life (Paco Osuna Remix), Basement Jaxx 6. Fried Chicken, Lost at the Rave & Joey Avila 7. Feel the Soul, C.J. & Thatz Hot 8.  Baba Yaga, Italobros 9. Euphoria, Claptone 10. Ojos Verdes, Jamek Ortega & Juno 11. Arev, Veednem 12. Ethnica , Nico de Andrea & Vanetty 13.  Premier Gaou (Nitefreak Remix), Francis Mercier & Magic System 14. Ah Oh Uh (Niconé Remix), Niconé, David Hasert & Diode Eins 15. Canoa, Dj Gregory & Gregor Salto  16. Finder, Ninetoes 17.Yababa (Tunisan Mix), Pablo Fierro, 18. Kumang (Don’t Accept), Beni-Fadi & Hyenah 19. Turned Turk, KinAhau

Mendocino Wedding

Street traffic after sundown on Gachibowli Miyapur Road outside the Radisson Hyderabad Hitc City. Beep beep!

Hyderabad Street

Jon Wurster's Longest KEXP Station ID ever

This Is America

Birds calling at sunrise in Fort Hill Rural Historic District in Eastham, Massachusetts in June 2018. Recorded with Shure MV88+ on iPhone X using Shure MOTIV app. Normalized with Audacity using default settings  (Remove DC offset, Normalize maximum amplitude to -1.0 dB, stereo channels together.)

Fort Hill Morning Songs

Beck.  NYC  73 - 78.   from the album REWORK_Philip Glass remixed

I know, I know... this is a pretty common cover, but let me explain how this one came about:
I've been listening to a lot of Prince lately (still mourning the loss), and while listening to his versions of the songs he wrote for other people, I got kinda fixated on "Nothing Compares 2 U." Eventually, Prince's version led me to revisiting Sinéad O'Connor's version, and I started to hear the song all over again--with new ears--and eventually I was figuring it out on acoustic guitar, and then I recorded the worst (oh my god, so terrible) version ever on VoiceMemo. And the VM recording was extra awful 'cause I was getting over an illness and had lost my voice for about a week.
Then I started thinking that maybe I should record it for real (specifically Sinéad's version)while my voice was still a little screwed up... and... here we are.
I recorded the acoustic guitar first via an old Tascam 488 8-track cassette recorder that Ian and Don gave to me. The erase heads don't work anymore, so the pressure was on to nail the performance on the first take. I did not nail it on my first, second, third, or fourth tries. I actually blew through one whole cassette trying to create a workable version (that first cassette is in the trash now, by the way... remember... there was no way to record over the bad versions). On the second cassette, I finally got through the song (a shortened version). Then I recorded analog vocals, but ultimately scrapped them. I liked 'em, and they were super rough, but I think I'm the only person who likes that sort of thing, so I abandoned them.
I brought the analog sounds into GarageBand. Then added my vocals and additional guitar. While my kids were taking a bath and I had 20 minutes to kill, I ran downstairs and recorded the drums. No kidding... I spent zero time setting up, and I had zero time to really work, so I really leaned into the slop. Finally, I asked Erin to sing--to add harmonies or whatever she wanted. And there you have it. It's a real Frankenstein monster of a cover song. Erin's vocals really add some life, though, and it was a good project to work on together.
If Prince's lawyers are reading this... um, I'm a school teacher with no money. Please Don't sue me. I'll happily take this down if you want me to.

Basement Recordings

Nothing Compares 2 U

Liz from Chicago.
Drummer, engineer, tech writer, general noisemaker at noise&light.