My sister, Chelsea, brought me this incredible gift all the way from India, and I’ve been in love since the moment I saw it. Everything from the meticulous tuning process to the balancing act of holding it to the chill inducing resonance that comes from a single stroke of the strings combines all the delicacy, sensitivity, and depth that I usually attribute to interacting with living creatures. As a guitarist, I also find that the sitar engages my sensibilities in all the ways I’ve been wanting to be most challenged. Since it is a modal instrument, I can forget all about coming up with clever chord progressions to fit a melody and simply get lost in the pursuit of any melody that suggests itself, honing in on its particular expressive character without the concern of constructing a “song” in the conventional sense. Though it’s too soon to say exactly how I’ll incorporate the sitar into future projects, it is certainly becoming a daily exercise of tuning in and reaching accord with my musical imagination in both the literal and figurative ways that suggests.
![The new album Good As Gone is being released on vinyl! Come celebrate the occasion at our favorite venue! ARCHIPELAGO performing songs from “Good As Gone” w/Chris Parker, Dave Garwacke, Mike Campbell, Alex Billig, and Laura Stevenson [ http://archipelago.bandcamp.com/ ] special guests: Belle Mare [ http://bellemare.bandcamp.com/ ] Ora Cogan (from Vancouver, BC) [ http://oracogan.bandcamp.com/ ]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/32812064aae23b7ad4c68dcf05a2fc34/tumblr_mkbotyJKo01qc2lo4o1_500.jpg)
The new album Good As Gone is being released on vinyl!
Come celebrate the occasion at our favorite venue!
ARCHIPELAGO
performing songs from “Good As Gone”
w/Chris Parker, Dave Garwacke, Mike Campbell, Alex Billig, and Laura Stevenson
[ http://archipelago.bandcamp.com/ ]
special guests:
Belle Mare
[ http://bellemare.bandcamp.com/ ]
Ora Cogan (from Vancouver, BC)
[ http://oracogan.bandcamp.com/ ]
Since the completion of Good As Gone, I’ve taken a step back from the Archipelago catalogue and concluded there’s a significant number of songs pre-Have Here that simply never found a proper home or had been otherwise haphazardly scattered around several EPs and informal releases over the years which, though making some sense chronologically, just seemed a bit unfocused and arbitrarily organized. So at the risk of George Lucas-ing myself, I pulled out the original tapes and files to put together a remastered collection of personal and fan favorites in the hopes of offering something a little more sensible and representative of this project’s trajectory over the years, especially for new fans. And here you have it:
Good As Gear
Dear audio nerds,
Since I tend to get a lot of questions about how and what I use to record in an 8’ x 5’ bedroom, I decided to compile a list of the gear and instruments that helped me produce Good As Gone. This list could also be labeled “Pretty Much Everything Peter Owns”, aside from some books and clothes (and the upright piano and electric organ, which were also not recorded in my bedroom).
Guitars:
Fender American Telecaster, ‘81 Squire Japanese Stratocaster, Danelectro Baritone, Rosetti lap steel, Washburn acoustic steel string, Squire P-Bass
(sometimes played with a slide, Ebow, violin bow, etc.)
Amps:
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Ampeg Rocket Bass
Effect Pedals:
Boss CS-3 Compressor (modified), volume pedal, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Boss TR-2 Tremolo, MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb
Additional instruments:
Korg SQ-2 keyboard, Alesis SR-16 sampler, electric organ, upright piano, acoustic nylon string guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, melodica, harmonica, glockenspiel, trumpet (performed by Alex Billig), tambourine, jingle bells, various drums and cymbals
Recording Signal Path:
Shure SM58 microphones
Behringer Ultragain Pro tube preamp
M-Audio Fast Track Ultra USB audio interface
Ableton Live software
Additional Gear:
Tascam 424 Portastudio Cassette 4-Track, BSR EQ-1 Frequency Equalizer, Line 6 Delay Modeler, Univox EC-80A Echo Chamber, Roger Linn Adrenalinn, Proco Rat, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, Boss BF-2 Flanger, Boss RC-20 Loop Station, EAD Audio MH310 headphones
Ten Ideas
with Ryan Williams and Taylor Moore
Episode 31: Fruit Loupe
This week, our first musical guest, Peter Naddeo (Laura Stevenson and the Cans, Archipelago) breaks up the monotony of our genius with music! And Halle Kiefer, friend of the show/enemy of the state, drops by to sell us mouse-torture mugs for the lonely, Safe-T-Men, the terror of Real-Life Cupids, and at least one handful of sink water. Give your mind’s eye a rest for we leave nothing to the imagination.
I got to hang out and perform on this wonderful program! Special thanks to Taylor Moore for one of the best days I’ve had in a while. Have a listen, and go check out all the other hilarious projects of which these talented folks are a part.
PTA
Started organizing some files on the ol’ external hard drive the other day and churned up these renditions of Jon Brion and Aimee Mann songs I recorded circa 2005. Suffice it to say, I was watching a lot of P.T. Anderson movies at the time.
