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Our next featured co-conspirator is Nadje Noordhuis (pronounced "NA-dia NORD-house"). Based in New York for the past four years, Nadje has performed at numerous jazz festivals in Europe, Australia, Asia, U.S.A and Canada, and has shared the stage with acclaimed artists including Tom Harrell, Dave Liebman, Jim Black, Ben Monder and Carmen Bradford. Nadje was also a semi-finalist in last year's Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition. Born in Sydney, Australia, she discovered Miles Davis in college and it changed her life. After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in sound engineering and multimedia, she moved to Melbourne where she attained a Bachelor of Music Performance degree with Honors from the Victorian College of the Arts. She moved to NYC to study at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Laurie Frink (who will also appear on our debut album). In 2002, she was commissioned to compose a suite to accompany streetscape photography, which she performed with her new music group comprised of strings, percussion and trumpet.
Nadje is a recent inductee into the Society, having played her first gig with us about ten and a half months ago. Like all Australians, she is practiced in the art of drunken late-night Nick Cave rasp-alongs. She is featured on "Transit" (click to listen; right/ctrl click to download) from our recent Live at LPR recording.
As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here to sponsor Nadje's appearance on our album.
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PREVIOUSLY...
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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
The Society had a blast at this year's All Nite Soul Festival at St. Peter's Church on Oct. 12, and we hope you did as well (despite the legendarily behind-schedule start time). It was an unbelievable honor to perform on the same bill as so many jazz legends, as well as a compliment of young upstarts doing great new things. And of course, it was a real kick to inaugurate the great Ted Poor as an official co-conspirator. If this night was your first exposure to Secret Society, we hope to see you again on Nov. 9 at the Bowery Poetry Club and Dec. 12-13 at the Jazz Gallery.
As regular readers know, I usually post audio of our live recordings here. I'm not going to to that in this case because, well... as you might imagine, the church's acoustics are somewhat suboptimal for bigband recording, and I'd really prefer y'all listen to those sweet-sounding, mixed & mastered recordings from our summer hit at Le Poisson Rouge. But in case you are keeping track, we played:
1) Flux in a Box (dedicated to DFW)
Solo: Jeremy Udden, alto sax
2) Ferromagnetic
Solo: Nadje Noordhuis, trumpet
Earlier recordings of both of which can be downloaded from our Live Audio Archive.
This was a great opportunity for me to extract myself from my current routine of devoting every waking hour to frantic preparations for our debut recording and instead sit back and enjoy some great music. Many thanks to Ike Sturm for the invitation, for running a great festival, and for playing bass for the Society's set.
More photos below the fold...
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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. For a tax-deductible (via Fractured Atlas) donation of $500 or more, you will be credited in the liner notes, plus other neat perks. So I am posting profile of the musicians who will be appearing on this recording. Today we feature Ryan Keberle, who splits lead trombone duties with Mike Fahie.
Ryan arrived in NYC eight years ago and has been keeping extremely busy. He's played hits at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Allen Room, Birdland, and the Bowery Ballroom, and tours frequently, having performed in Scandinavia, Italy, Ireland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, etc. (He's in China right now!) Ryan graduated in 2001 from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Steve Turre and composers Mike Abene and the late Manny Album. He went on to study with Wycliffe Gordon and David Berger at Juilliard, and was a member of Jazz at Juilliard's first graduating class.
Ryan has also performed or recorded with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Charles McPherson, Percy Heath, Teo Macero, Joe Lovano, Eric Reed, Ivan Lins, Jon Hendricks, Madeline Peyroux, and Alicia Keys among others. He is the regular trombonist for the Broadway musical In the Heights. In April of 2007 Ryan released his debut CD, Ryan Keberle Double Quartet, which the New York Times's Nate Chinen hailed as an "auspicious debut."
Ryan plays in like a bazillion bigbands in town, including Maria's. But I would like to go on the record to state that she stole him from me, and not the other way around — Ryan has been a Secret Society co-conspirator since October 2005 (our second-ever gig). I wrote "Zeno" as a feature for him, and he also tears it up on "Ritual."
Click here to sponsor Ryan's appearance on our recording.
Previously...
Erica vonKleist
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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
As some of you know, as part of our efforts to raise money for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. For a tax-deductible (via Fractured Atlas) donation of $500 or more, you will be credited in the liner notes: "[MUSICIAN'S NAME] appears courtesy of [YOUR NAME]." Plus you will get an exclusive autographed photo and thank-you note from the musician you've sponsored.
In the hopes of encouraging more people to take advantage of this, from now until Dec. 15, I'll be posting more info about the amazing musicians who will be appearing on this recording. Today we begin with Erica vonKleist, who leads our wind section.
Erica's a West Hartford native who moved to New York in 2000 to study at the Manhattan School of Music. She finished her studies at Juilliard after they launched their jazz program, earning the first Bachelor's Degree in jazz in the history of the school. Since 2003, she's been a member of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Arturo O'Farrill. She plays flute in Chris Potter's Tentet, and is featured on last year's Song for Anyone. In 2006, Erica released her first album as a leader with her band, Project E, and she will soon begin recording for her next project. She also paints!
Erica has been a Secret Society co-conspirator ever since our first gig back in May 2005. In addition to being a kickass improvising saxophonist, Erica is like a scarily good flutist. A lot of jazz saxophonists can double on flute well enough to get by in most casual situations, but Erica is actually serious about the instrument. This means I can write real flute parts for her in Secret Society, which is awesome.
Erica is featured on alto flute and soprano sax on "Chrysalis" (click to listen; right/ctrl-click to download). She is sad that she almost never gets to play her main horn in this band, so one of the new pieces I'm working on will be an alto sax feature for her.
Click here to sponsor Erica's appearance on our recording.
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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Our debut album on New Amsterdam Records will be entitled Infernal Machines.
You may thank John Philip Sousa for the reference:
These talking machines will ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy, in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs. Today, you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal chord left in America! The vocal chord will be eliminated by a process of evolution as was the tail of man when he came down from the ape.If you do not make the people executants, you make them depend on the machines.
PS Remember, if you have a favorite Secret Society piece you'd like us to record, now is the time to lobby for it in comments.
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We are fundraising! Please help Secret Society record our debut album by making a tax-deductible contribution.
Also, I apologize for my inability to resist using the above image. Much respect to the architect of this record, which everybody should own.
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A favorite Claxton photo:
A fantastic performance from my current favorite band (Dear Science kills), seriously marred by appallingly muddy, hollow, boomy live sound. My obvious affection for the Brooklyn Masonic Temple notwithstanding, this is really not a good place to see live rock 'n roll.
More pics below the fold...
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We are fundraising! Please help Secret Society record our debut album by making a tax-deductible contribution.
Continue reading "TV On The Radio @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 14 Oct 2008" »
Speaking of unions, Ted Hearne has a great post on the current drive to organize the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music.
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We are fundraising! Please help Secret Society record our debut album by making a tax-deductible contribution.
One of the first things I did when I moved to New York was to join the American Federation of Musicians Local 802. My reasons for doing so were partly self-serving -- union members get access to the Local 802 rehearsal space, which is the best deal in NYC. And as a freelance copyist by day, I pretty much had to join if I wanted to work on any Broadway shows or film scores. But I am a huge, straight-up supporter of the union movement generally. Unions are the only protection workers have against exploitation by the corporate elite, who have more power today than at any time since the Gilded Age -- and the current economic crisis is likely to only increase the clout of those at the top, which makes unions more important than ever. Seriously, I'm so old-school, the lyrics to "Solidarity Forever" make me all weepy, thinking of how long and hard working people have fought just to get a fair share of the wealth they produce. This struggle is no joke -- the ruling class used to kill union organizers in this country. They are still doing it in countries like Colombia.
RE: "Solidarity Forever," I am especially partial to these verses:
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made
But the union makes us strong.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
.
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong
So I've been proud to be a member of the AFM. Of course, like everyone else I have my misgivings about their slowness to adapt to the challenges of today, and their inability to play a relevant role in the lives of musicians of my generation. Still, the work they do is vital to maintaining the health of NYC's music scene — to cite one direct example, many of the musicians in Secret Society would not be able to play our absurdly low-paying gigs if they did not also have a regular, unionized Broadway gig to pay the rent. And the AFM protects their right to occasionally sub out of their show to play our hits without getting fired or sanctioned.
Given all of the above, I can't help but be incredibly depressed to see this news:
But in October's International Musician, President Tom Lee says that our "International Executive Board has chosen to not make an endorsement for President this year" citing "surveys" showing that "union members do not wish to be told for whom to vote."
You have got to be shitting me.
For the record, here is a partial the list of the national unions that have endorsed Barack Obama for president:
American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American Nurses Association
American Postal Workers Union
American Small Business League
Association of Flight Attendants
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Change to Win Federation
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers
International Association of Fire Fighters
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
National Association of Letter Carriers
National Education Association
Service Employees International Union
Transport Workers Union
UNITE HERE
United American Nurses
United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing, Pipefitting and Sprinkler Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada
United Auto Workers Union
United Food and Commercial Workers
United Healthcare Workers West
United Mine Workers
United Steelworkers
Utility Workers Union of America
But not the American Federation of Musicians. That's pathetic.
At least Local 802 is doing the right thing, but our international executive board is an embarrassment. What possible benefit do they think they will obtain by refusing to endorse Obama?
I leave the final word to Brother Ed Shamgochian of AFM Local 134:
[O]fficial silence from the AFM is a disservice to our members, and to unionism in general, which developed out of democratic principles, has been constantly threatened by Republicans for more than two decades, and which is supported by only one of the two candidates for President today: Barack Obama.
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We are fundraising! Please help Secret Society record our debut album by making a tax-deductible contribution.
Last Sunday I posted in praise of New Amsterdam Records, who will be releasing our debut recording. I also posted a link to the NewAm Artist Agreement, which details, in plain English, the financial arrangement I have with them. As you can see, it is extremely artist-positive — I retain full copyright of the recording and proceeds from album sales are split 80/20 in my favor until the recording costs are recouped.
The flip side of this, however, is that the artist does not get an advance to pay for recording costs. However, since in a traditional record contract, the "advance" is often a one-way ticket to perpetual indentured servitude, the NewAm terms are ultimately much more favorable. But it does mean that the responsibility of raising the necessary capital to make the recording in the first place is 100% on the artist. And recording a big band in the studio is a crushingly expensive proposition — which is why I have avoided it thus far.
What happened to change my mind? Well, on top of the offer to sign with New Amsterdam Records, whose generous terms make breaking even at least a theoretical possibility, I also received a commission from the Jazz Gallery’s Large Ensemble Commissioning Series, an invitation to make this recording a WBGO Studio Session, and the SOCAN/IAJE Emerging Composer Award. The combined proceeds are still several significant digits short of a MacArthur, but they are enough to get the ball rolling.
However, in order to actually complete this recording, I need your help. It’s donations from people like you that made our January 2008 tour possible. Thanks to your generous support, we were able to raise over $1000 towards our travel costs and make good on our invitation to appear at the 2008 IAJE conference. Were it not for you, we would never have played in Montreal or Toronto, and we'd never have gotten these rave reviews for those shows. We would not have had the chance to collaborate with Tim Hagans (check his unbelievable solo on “Ferromagnetic”). And in all likelihood, we would not be headed into the studio this fall, either. You came through when we needed you, for which I am abidingly grateful. But now, for this recording, we need your support more than ever.
I understand that this is the single worst time to ask for money in living memory. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of waiting out the current financial meltdown. This recording is — seriously — a make-or-break proposition for us. The choice was stark: either I thank everyone in the band for their time and call it a day, or I book us some studio time and double down on the album being a success. Secret Society has gotten as far as we possibly can without the benefit of a proper studio recording. That’s a lot farther than was once possible, but there is definitely an upper limit and we have reached it.
The reality is, we cannot make this album without your help. But the upside is that thanks to the fine people at Fractured Atlas, your contributions are all tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. It’s easy and secure to make an online donation — just click the button below:
For this project, I considered offering various levels of support, just like your favorite Large Arts Institution. You know, tiered categories like "Friends," "Notables," Patrons," etc. But honestly, that didn't feel quite right. I mean, we are grateful beyond belief to everyone who contributes. Small internet-based donations have transformed politics, and they have the potential to transform the music scene as well. Trust me, the contributions of ordinary people kicking in a few bucks makes an enormous difference to the success of a recording like this. Small donations help us do the little-but-crucial things — like making sure the band gets fed and properly caffeinated during our marathon 12-hour recording days.
That’s why all donors at every level will be listed on our Thank-You Page (unless of course, you wish to give anonymously) -- no matter how much you give, you have our undying gratitude. But there was one thing I thought might be a nice incentive for those of you who are able to contribute a bit more — I’m offering you the opportunity to sponsor one of the musicians who appears on the album.
If you contribute $500 or more via Fractured Atlas, you'll be underwriting a musician’s appearance on the album, and you will get a credit in the liner notes for doing so — e.g.: "Erica vonKleist appears courtesy of [YOUR NAME GOES HERE]." You’ll also get a one-of-a-kind autographed glossy photo from the recording session, and a personalized handwritten thank-you letter from the sponsored musician. Plus, naturally, you'll get a listing on our Thank-You Page and our undying gratitude.
There are only 18 of these sponsorship slots available -- one per musician -- so when you make a donation of $500 or more, please also send me an email letting me know who you would like to sponsor. For an up-to-date list of which musicians are still available for sponsorship, please check here.
Alternatively... if you contribute $5000 via Fractured Atlas, in addition to personally sponsoring ten(!) musicians, you will also get the coveted Executive Producer credit for the recording. (Only one person can be Executive Producer.) Plus you will receive an invitation to Bennett Studios in Englewood, NJ to watch us record in person. And, it goes without saying, a listing on our Thank-You Page and our undying gratitude.
Just to be clear, one thing I can’t do with these online donations is to offer anything of tangible monetary value as an incentive. So much as I’d personally love to send donors who give X amount a free copy of the CD and a Secret Society T-Shirt, I can’t. If you want swag — and it is fine, fine swag — you will have to purchase it separately. Sorry.
But remember — all donations made via Fractured Atlas are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. If your employer has a matching gift program for charitable contributions, in most cases Fractured Atlas is eligible for that — just shoot them an email and they will give you further instructions.
If you like to kick it old-school, we can also accept donations by check -- please email me in advance and I will let you know how this works.
I don’t need to tell anyone reading this how important this recording is to me and to all of the musicians in the band. I can’t wait to finally have the opportunity to document this music properly and get it out there to a wider audience. But we can’t afford to do it alone. I truly hate asking for money, especially at a time like this, but the bottom line is that we absolutely need your help. If you’ve enjoyed seeing the band live or listening to the live recordings I’ve given away over the years, please donate. If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog, please donate. If you want to encourage the survival of independent, creative, unreasonably ambitious music, please donate. Your support means the world.
Yours most sincerely,
— Darcy James Argue
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Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
All Nite Soul at St. Peter's is New York's longest running jazz festival, now in its 38th year. It's a pretty serious marathon, kicking off at 5 PM with Jazz Vespers featuring the Tia Fuller Quartet and, as advertised, going all night. Over 100 musicians will be inovled, including yrs trly and the following eighteen co-conspirators:
This being a marthon, we are only contributing a short set (20 minutes) -- but dude, check out the rest of the lineup:
Benny Powell and Jane Jarvis, Dr. Billy Taylor, Randy Weston, Frank Wess, Dick Katz, Carline Ray, Jared Schonig, Catherine Russell, Dave Stryker, Steve Slagle, Jimmy Owens, Reggie Workman, Billy Hart, Steve Turre, Sarah McLawler, Rolando Briceno, Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, Sam Newsome, Helen Sung, Bernice Brooks, Bertha Hope, Chip Jackson, Francina Connors, Aaron Diehl, Gene Bertoncini, Sara Caswell, Jon Cowherd, T.K. Blue, Paul Knopf, Omer Klein, Ziv Ravitz, John Ellis, Billy Harper, Andrew Cyrille, Charles Tolliver, Chandra Rule, Ted Poor, Sayuri Goto, Essiet Essiet, Rhythmic Prophecies, Melissa Stylianou, Jamie Reynolds, Francesca Tanksley, Barry Harris, Keisha St. Joan, Brian Lynch, Joe Wilder, Dotti Anita Taylor... and more besides.
What can you say? It's a fucking honor. (Oh, shit, I gotta start watching my language. It's church, fercrissakes.) Anyway, the suggested donation for the entire night is just $20 — stay a little while, or stay all night.
What's the opposite of schadenfreude?
Sherisse Rogers has won the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition. She won for her piece "Transitions" for bigband and string quartet, featuring Joel Frahm. (It's on her CD.) This is awesome and well-deserved. Sherisse is a longtime friend and huge influence on my writing. She is also among the composers featured in the Jazz Gallery's Large Ensemble Commissioning Program this year. Sherisse's Project Uprising bigband is at the Jazz Gallery Feb. 27 & 28, 2009 -- save the date.
Also, Lindsay has been recognized by Project Censored in their annual list of Top 25 Censored Stories. Her investigative piece for In These Times on the Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act is #6.
As you may already be aware, Secret Society have signed with New Amsterdam Records. So for those of you who have been asking me, repeatedly, for the better part of three years, "Dude -- when are you guys going to record?" here is your answer: we record in December (at Bennett Studios), and the album will be out in May 2009. You'll be able to order physical copies directly from the New Amsterdam website (they ship worldwide). We are unabashedly old-school in our preference for physical objects and hope you will opt for the CD version -- we are planning a lavish digipack designed by Travis Williams, who also created this blog's masthead, the fabulous Secret Society t-shirts, and much else besides. But there will also be the option to purchase digital tracks from New Amsterdam, iTunes, Amazon, etc.
It feels pretty sweet to join the New Amsterdam roster. I have been a huge fan of the stuff they have been putting out, ever since their first release back in early 2007. Some NewAm artists are collaborators of mine -- longtime Secret Society saxophonist Sam Sadigursky has two albums on the label, and NewAm cellist Jody Redhage is a Pulse alumnus. Others are close friends, like singer-songwriter Corey Dargel (though we are also soon-to-be collaborators: I am currently working on an arrangement of a song from his upcoming Other People's Love Songs, to be performed by Corey and NOW Ensemble at Corey's record launch, Oct. 29 @ LPR). Some I know only slightly, though I've been blown away by their music: Ted Hearne (who killed at the Stone last Sunday), itsnotyouitsme (see Caleb's sweet profile in the NYT), Build, and others. I suppose some might consider this all a wee bit incestuous, but come on, who among us has not at one time secretly identified with Shellbyville Manhattan's yearning for his attractive cousins?
Okay, cheap incest jokes aside, what I like best about New Amsterdam is that the label brings together a group of artists that feels like a community without feeling like it's bound to a specific musical ideology. Beyond a basic agreement on a set of core principles that would go without saying in most circles -- "popular music is art," "embracing diverse influences is cool," "grooves feel good," "smart music can be fun" -- there's really not a definitive sound or style that you could pin down as being "the New Amsterdam thing." And while it's not exactly a "jazz" label, I feel that the kind of music I've been pursuing with Secret Society is, in a lot of ways, closer in spirit to what many NewAm artists are doing than it is to contemporary mainstream jazz.
Now, given some of my anti-record label comments on this blog in the past, some may be surprised that I am going with a label at all for our debut recording. Labels, we are told, are over. The contracts are irredeemably exploitative -- you have to give up ownership of your creative work, and these days they don't really do all that much to help you anyway. In fact, there's every chance they will seriously fuck you without your knowledge or consent. The thing to do is to put it out youself.
Well, sure. That's one way to do it -- and more power to those who do. But there is also value in being part of a movement. There's value in being associated with like-minded artists. There's value in trying to be constructive, in trying to build a mutually supportive scene. This is what New Amsterdam has set out to accomplish. And it's not just a bunch of hand-wavy crap either. Founders William Britelle, Judd Greenstein, and Sarah Kirkland Snider are all formidable composers themselves, and they are genuinely commited to fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between artist and label. Don't believe me? New Amsterdam's Arist Agreement is a publically available Google Document. You can read it right here.
Some highlights:
• You retain full ownership of all material on your album, including the master recording itself.
• Gross proceeds from album sales are split 80/20 [in the artist's favor] until artists costs are recouped, at which point the split moves permanently to 50/50.
• Proceeds, including CD sales, from live performances that are booked/presented by New Amsterdam are split 80/20 in favor of the artist. New Amsterdam gets nothing from shows that are booked/presented by the artists.
• This agreement is valid for 4 years from the release date of each record (on a record-by-record, not artist-by-artist basis). At the end of the term, both parties may agree to extend this term. If the term is not extended, New Amsterdam will no longer collect any proceeds related to the master recording.
Compare that to a typical major label contract. No, go ahead. I'll wait.
Ultimately, though, what swayed me was their reaction to our July 9 hit at Le Poisson Rouge. Bill, Judd, and Sarah all came out for that show (along with a fair number of New Amsterdam artists). In talking to them afterwards, it was obvious that they had a genuine response to our music, and more importantly, that they were really hearing the connection between their world and ours. When someone tells you that they like your music, you can always instantly tell if they are bullshitting you. My conversations with Bill, Judd, and Sarah have, thus far, been blessedly bullshit-free. Unless you have had prior dealings with the music "industry," you have no idea how rare a thing that is.
Speaking of that July 9 LPR show, you may have noticed that three selections from that hit are now fully mixed and masterd (at YME Studio by Paul Cox) and available for download from Secret Society's New Amsterdam Artist Page. Or you can get them here (click to listen, right/ctrl-click to download):
1) MP3: Ferromagnetic
Solo: Tim Hagans, trumpet
2) MP3: Desolation Sound
Solo: Sam Sadigurksy, soprano sax
3) MP3: Transit
Solo: Nadje Noordhuis, fluegelhorn
You'll notice that these "premium" tracks sound way better than any previously available recording of the band. I'll have more to say about them later, but for now I hope they serve to whet your appetite for the upcoming studio recording. And while they are, as usual, freely offered for your downloading/sharing/burning pleasure, if you like 'em, we'd certainly appreciate your kicking in a couple of bucks to help us defray our studio costs:
As always, my co-conspirators and I thank you for supporting independent music.
UPDATE: Dammit I almost forgot to ask -- what tunes would you most like us to record in December? Seriously, let me know -- either in comments or by email. Obviously, I have my own preferences, but, you know, I'm not made of stone. Feel free to campaign for your favorites.
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