a truly classic bopnique track recorded in NJ, Nashville .  the lyrics are really high level poetic craft.   Verse 1 :
The empty lot where love was born, with turnip skin and wings of scorn, dirty rags and razor blades, garbage cans a can of raid, hardwood floors, a madman's gaze, water spilling from her veins. her sunday dress her skinny legs, raised on spam and minute maid....


Virus

ajax marching around the studio with a snaredrum at http://www.bopnique.com

Bopniquemarchringtone6

les paul direct playing melody, surrounded by telemetry.

Bopniqueringtone11ajrlespaul

The first track we ever did with Anthony J. Resta producing. The brilliant Paul Candilore on electric guitars and vocals, music maestro Clayton Young on bass and vocals, and Mark Zamcheck on Hammond organ. I found my voice in this song.

Without Your Love

wild soundscape made from odd guitar sounds and 8 bit sounds

bopniqueringtone15eternal sunshinelike

trip hop group consisting of Jawn P, Annette Farrington, AJAx, and sometimes "MC Force aka the sorcerer" Mixed by Bob st. John at sound techniques.

we have an album of this material and need to get it packaged up and released! this song was featured prominently  in the MIRAMAX film "Squeeze"

"happy" jawn p and the pawn shop

when super talented coloratura soprano Elizabeth Tryon,  approached us  and said "lets do something funky."
i really got into my roots and let my love of prince, james brown, fame era bowie etc out..
 and the result:  is this REALLY FUNKY  track.   Elizabeth did an amazing job of toning down her operatic chops here.  Instead of singing a German French or Italian opera classic,  she bust's out her 80's madonna influences on this. .....with out a doubt.some of my funkiest guitar work to date for sure... Rhythm guitar was inspired by Carlos Alomar, lead by prince.  Thanks to Roger Linn for his fab invention "adrenalinn"  its featured on the clean stuff.    i also used Mark Hudson's "Soul bomb" pedal for the solo.

Produced by AJR
Recorded and Mixed by Karyadi at Bopnique

Elizabeth: vocals
Casey Desmond: Soul Sister background vocals.
Ajax:  guitar, bass, real drums and percussion, programming
Gizmo: (jeff calder)  funky clav and synths

Magnetic - alternate (mastered)

TV Mania track

Nick Rhodes: synths
Warren C:  guitars
AJR: live drums, beatbox, lap steel, percussion, moog, bass

04 You're Dreaming Pal

i can't remember exactly how i used to make music like this.  Its performance art.  vocal was live to dat.  

performed recorded and mixed by ajax ray o'vaque

itunes review:
Listening to (The Critically Forgot) Demos of Saturn is like taking a musical journey through a Kurt Vonnegut book with The Beatles as your tour guide. This album is only for people who enjoy truly interesting, catchy, memorable, and lovely music. It is rare these days that you find music so thoughtfully crafted and expressive, yet fun to rock out to. To me, "Just Monkees Pushing Buttons" is the highlighted track! Anthony (Ajax) Resta has done it again! Five Stars, Two thumbs up, and a bag of 8th notes! Enjoy! 

05 Free Me (From My Brain) by ajax ray o'vaque

Track from an unreleased album from the late Dan Cecere. Dan was an incredible spirit, Songwriter, and a dear friend.  This track recorded in an afternoon...was first dan and i playing live at bopnique.  later i added bass and some extra guitar... Thanks to Paul David Hager for mixing this and Matt Girard for tracking.  this one is called Happy Pills.  Dan loved artists like alice and chains and Nirvana but had his own twist on things.  We miss you Dan.

Happy Pills

Tucked away in a world class mix room at the legendary  Paramount Recording Studios in Hollywood, and Bopnique 3.0 and 4.0 in Nashua and Sherman Oaks  are the secret lairs of producer, engineer, omni-instrumentalist and holistic music creator Anthony J. Resta (a.k.a. Ajax Ray-O-Vaque) hides like a musical comic-book hero’s Beat Cave. Studio Bopnique (http://www.bopnique.com) like hipster L.A. clubs with no sign or outward evidence, is one of those places that doesn’t advertise. Seventy hour weeks are the norm in the studio’s newly expanded 3700 square foot rustic loft which houses an incredible array of instruments, particularly keyboards of which over 30 are evident. Anthony and his right arm engineer Karyadi Sutedja run a two-ring circus that is truly a wonder to behold.

While his first foray into international production  was Anthony’s five year, thirty song relationship with Duran Duran. “Simon Lebon called me after hearing a mix… some strange cowboy lady with a conch shell backing... He said ‘You’re mad lad, we want you over here!’” The relationship and experience changed Anthony’s life.

He began as a session drummer, working into programming in the late 80’s through expertise with the Linn Drum. “I hung out with Prince in London in 1999 and we talked about how cool that machine was (featured in When Doves Cry)” Anthony laughs. A photo of Anthony and Karyadi with Elton John hides in a corner near the studio’s small kitchen. These guys get around.

Anthony first developed his skill as a producer in a studio south of Boston. “Courtlen Recording gave me an opportunity to basically live under the grand piano and be in-house producer, teaming me up with great engineers like Fred Danner, Bob St. John (multiple Grammy winner), Paul Hager, Tom Soares and Chris Lannon.”

Anthony and Karyadi maintain distinct workstations in Bopnique’s cavernous sprawl, Anthony surrounded by never-ending keyboards, string simulators, drum machines and other nick-nacks all wired by midi to the mix station Karyadi nomally pilots. When not orchestrating in his realm, Anthony paces excitedly behind Karyadi mumbling and humming in a fashion that agrees with Lebon’s first
impression… mad. Equally mad is Karyadi’s ability to understand every utterance and instantly translate it to technical expression seemingly by telepathy. This Spidey-sense allows them to accomplish otherwise daunting mix feats in short time.

Resta has grown past a distinct production style. “Once I learned that it was all about the song and knowing what to leave out, it became transparent... just getting the best out of people and making the right statement for the songs.” Likewise, Anthony has no particular favorite style of music. “I used to be
into electronica but I really like recording real instruments. I like mixing the most real sounds with one or two completely unreal sounds, then making them sound like they belong together.”

This juxtaposition of purely organic and wildly synthetic is evident in Anthony’s work as an artist, recording “performance art” under the name Ajax Ray-O-Vaque with one album “Demos Of Saturn” out on Intelligent Records and a follow up due in ’08. Scattered poetry collections from authors like Bukowski alongside his photography of beloved New England fishing excursions define the vibe in
Anthony’s home base where the artists and labels now come to him.

“After I tired of 8 months a year in a hotel, I started putting my money into the place (Bopnique). Now people come from London, Miami, L.A., N.YC., Portugal, etc to record here!”

download article 
Published in Skope Magazine, by Dan Bernal
‘05 Feature – Producer Anthony J. Resta 

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