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- hiatus
the names that spell will be on hiatus until our record is ready to be released. we are currently in the process of mixing & remixing the songs for our album, “happy to be feeling anything.” please contact us if you have any questions. thanks, & enjoy your nap.
- fundraiser show this weekend
We’ll be performing this weekend, Saturday May 21st at a fundraiser for the “Brickenback Theater Project” in Chicago. See this facebook event for details or check out the shows page.
- happy to be feeling anything
1. South Dakota
2. North Dakota
3. Taking a Leak
4. Truth is Fruit Punch
5. File Save
6. Cat Nap
7. I’m the Only Girl You Know
8. Riddle Rental
9. Keep It In Winkville
10. Wangatang
this is the track listing for our 2011 album, “Happy to Be Feeling Anything” .. Check back soon to listen to new songs ,’-) - 2011
new website. welcome. here are some photos from recent mixing and recording, progress is made:
How we make the big decisions:
this man was stuck this way for days:
what our sheet music looks like:
4AM:
new album will be ready soon.
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Posts
- Apr 10, 12so we've been working on an album for about 5 years, give or take a year or two. yeah, it's kind of a silly thing to admit in this day & age when kids are recording records in seconds & releasing them in minutes... but i think it's something you & i should talk about, because we haven't been talking much, we've both been too busy.
((((i'm curious: when was the last time you were blown away by a record? like, what i mean is, when was the last time a pop song took your breath away? literally stopped you from breathing, or caused heart palpitations? let me know if anything comes to mind....))))so our major problem is actually kind of ironic. these 10 recordings that we've made are pretty exceptional. we've managed to successfully record 2 drum sets in virtually every time signature imaginable (((except 13/8...coming soon))) we have layered & edited so many sounds & arrangements on top of each other, it's very hard to hear where there are mistakes. in short, everything sounds perfect. too perfect. so how, you may ask, is that a problem?
well, i've been trying to convince myself that its not a problem. the cleanliness & sheen we've gotten on these recordings is now the industry standard, even with garageband recordings. compared to our previous record, A&R , this new album sounds professional, glitch-free. but i've got to ask you something: when you listen to a recording, a good recording, do you get excited & share it with your friends because you like the way the kick drum sounds? because you notice the univox on the guitar? because you love the reverb on the vocals?
in all likelihood, the answer is probably no. i'm obsessive about sound qualities, & i truly believe that even if you've got the most amazing, gorgeous synthesizer pad, & the drums are meticulous & crisp, & the vocal edits are seamless - you've still only got a small fraction of the musical experience...but often those sounds take precedent over the content of the song, the emotion of the lyrics, the originality & the presence of the music... if the song is just another reworking of Sgt. Pepper or Fun House, then who cares?
so right now, we've got a great set of sounds recorded. we've got a lovely palette of colors to work with. but the final product is not an album yet, or at least, it's not our album. so these next few months i'm going to be deconstructing these 10 songs to reconstruct them with the soul i know they have. if that means blowing out my speakers in the process by recording through 10 preamps, or rerecording all the vocal tracks without editing...it's all fair game. i know, in the end, i want these songs to make me feel something physical, make me move, cry, shout, or at least grin...
....anyway, i just wanted to check in with you. tell you what's up. because if i didn't think these recordings were valuable, i wouldn't be so critical, and we wouldn't be trying to persevere through the difficult circumstances that The Names That Spell has had to deal with in the past couple of years as a band. So, yeah - Don't expect the Beatles or the Stooges. We are still The Names That Spell, & we aim to astonish you. Thanks for your support,
-ROO G.
((((expect the next single to be released early May, 2012 --- for now, "Taking a Leak" is posted HERE for free download, & last year's live video of the song is posted HERE - May 14, 11
- Apr 12, 11we use two drummers in much of our music - it's always a tricky situation as it's easy for both overplay - thus we spend a lot of time experimenting with different combinations and contexts where having 8 limbs hitting things instead of 4 makes sense. density is a big talking point at rehearsals. it's easy for things to devolve into a spaceless rant of constant 16th notes.it is very interesting to watch two drummers play together in a improvisatory context (and I don't mean guitar center drum battle 2010 or other wankery.)here is an video of two drummers nasheet waits and eric mcpherson performing in a trio with abraham burton. I think it's a good example of how organic two drummers can play. Sure, it sounds dense at times, but density, just like volume, is something a drummer can control, and two drummers can do interesting things with that. rhythms can clash in ways that one drummer could not achieve.(you can view all 6 parts of the full set on youtube where they play in a bunch of different contexts within the trio, this is just one segment).
- Apr 08, 11
Embrace your Emotions - find your inner woo. it's like monsters in your pocket. or creatures in your head. pagan creatures. So, with hopes that this blog can join the ranks of the great many obsolescent blogs of the future, we are going to start detailing the creations of our musics here whenever we forget that words are actually useless.., also, i think we are going to go through with our plan to start releasing our back catalogue of recordings on BANDCAMP (@ thenamesthatspell.bandcamp.com) .... these recordings are to be FREE ., check in with us in about a week for the first installment..,
how do you change the settings? how do you cut the grass?
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Shows
- Upcoming shows:Past Shows:May 21st, 2011 10PM - fundraiser @ Brickenbrack Theatre Project - 1770 W. Berteau Ave. Suite 207, Chicago, IL - $5performing with: Indigo Sun/Electric Boogaloo/Agents of ChangeApril 16th, 2011 - AN UBUNTUNES SHOW: The Names That Spell/Osh Wa/Shiloh/Sharpless/Big Sur Jr. - Rogers Park, Chicago - house show, contact us for details.
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Albums
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Videos
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The Scoop
- ABOUT US:Links:thenamesthatspell(performing together since 2001)Evan Staley has played bass in Minkus Rerun & Beguile, Beguile, My Love! He's studying to become a special education teacher. He makes beautiful collages & likes fast women...Josh Johnson has a degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University. He plays the alto saxophone & writes for the band Snaarj...Lucas Elenitsky has performed with Minkus Rerun & Beguile, Beguile, My Love! He has also accompanied a Vaudeville troop. He plays percussion, ukulele, & kalimba...Matt Plaskota has played drums for Minkus Rerun & Beguile, Beguile, My Love! He has a degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Illinois where he also studied Balinese Gamelan...Roo Gatsby has performed with Minkus Rerun & Beguile, Beguile, My Love! He co-hosts a radio show with Margaret Inglosolunbe at WHPK 88.5 FM. He plays guitar, trumpet, & sometimes he sings...Alistair Duncan studies Trombone at the Eastman School of Music. He has been performing with The Names That Spell since 2009...Click here to download hi-res press photo.thenamesthatspell in the news: (click to view)
