Monday, March 31, 2008

I Know What I Know...


I know what I know and that is all I know and I know it
volume1 number 11

our FREE download from coming attractions features the omnificent
prophet omega in his second outing doing an impromptu radio ad
for the shipp moving company.

voice: the prophet omega
drums, string bass, percussion, guitar: adrian
drums recorded at Royal Recorders in Lake Geneva, Wis,
on October 20, 1989
engineer: rich denhart
assistant: dan harjung
voice, bass, and guitar
recorded at StudioBelew in Mt. Juliet, Tn.
on March 24, 1997
engineer: ken latchney
length: 2:27

Heat In The Jungle


heat in the jungle
volume 1 number 8

here is a never-released instrumental piece.
the strange percussion sounds were produced by putting
a Barcus Berry pickup and a door and playing the door.
this track was to have a vocal but I never finished it.

piano, keyboard: christy bley

fretless bass: clif mayhugh
drums, guitar: adrian

engineer: rich denhart

recorded at Cwazy Wabbit in Springfield, IL.

sometime in late 1979

length: 4:35

Monday, March 24, 2008

Coconuts (backing track)


coconuts (backing track)
volume 3 number 16

a summer feel-good song.
for this track we threw an in-studio party
and recorded it as part of the backing track.

note for anyone collecting the whole dust set:
you should now have 23 tracks of volume 3
which concludes the volume 3 section.
congratulations!

piano, drums, percussion, bass, guitar:adrian

engineer: rich denhart
assistant: dan harjung

recorded at Royal Recorders in Lake Geneva, Wis.

sometime in 1988
length: 4:07

Sunday, March 23, 2008

House Of Cards (remix)


house of cards (remix)
volume 1 number 14

you hear the studio door open and shut.
then you hear me standing at the microphone
searching for the harmony part I'm about to sing
while the piano plays in my headphones.

what follows is a completely different mix of
piano, guitar, bass, an egg shaker, vocals
and a smattering of percussion
(once again played on japanese fans with a pencil).
just as the song finishes you hear all manner of things throw together
including a recording made that day of a flock of Canadian geese
flying overheard outside the studio. sheesh.

people like us have our eyes on the stars and we keep informed via T.V. Guide and we entertain in a house of cards but the trouble remains in our sleeping hearts wake up, wakeup, get out, get out of this house of cards why are we sleeping? why are we blinded, always the little guys? why do we find ourselves always compromised? wake up, wake up, get out, this is a house of cards, yeah why are we sleeping? people like us have lives made of dust and we know too little but we know too much and our puzzled lives have come all apart so we go back to bed with our sleeping hearts and we stay asleep in a house of cards
piano, drums, percussion, bass, guitar:adrian
engineer: rich denhart
assistant: dan harjung

recorded at Royal Recorders in Lake Geneva, Wis.

sometime in 1989
length: 4:09

Friday, March 21, 2008

Bird In A Box (remix)


bird in a box (remix)
volume 1 number 15

in keeping with our policy of making available the dust material
which was already released on coming attractions
as a FREE download, here's one of my personal favs from mr. music head.

there were many unique techniques used in making the original track.
the piano was played like a percussion instrument by hitting the strings
inside the piano with a set of soft mallets.
the string bass part was played on a cello.
the percussion was a mix of drum machine and japanese fans played with a pencil.
the "bird wing flapping" sound (which begat the title) was produced by rubbing the guitar strings with a cloth and running the sound through an Eventide processor
and the raging guitar solo sound was made by...gee, I wish I remembered.

ooh, I'm not a free lunch box car parked in the seat
dead end streetcar of desire caught by the tailpiece

I'm a jiffy pop tarts are bad for your teen-aged beef


well there's a mandoLinda Evans talking on the phone call

a Porter Wagoner tailor-made underwear

every dog has his Dayton, Ohio Hitler

says to button your fly Tijuana make a Bette Midler, oh...


drop dead lock stock and bugle coral reefer man

every Marlon Brando gave him a great big handstand

what a lumpy Guy Lumbago embargo fish pants


is there a Groucho Marxist doctrine in the house calls

about a lost set of Keystone Cops out the same way

you came in through the bathroom window look,

a rock and roller skate and skate slowly


hey manatee bone state of the aren't you gonna finish your bird in a box

hey man your witness to the standstill shoulder to shoulder the burden a box

hey man you're eatin' Colonel Sanders daddy was a thunderbird in a box


loose tooth three of a perfect pair of diced onions

cheese and beings from another planeTeri Garr* oil change

every two thousand smiled at Linda Evans called

again singin' happy birthmark


the absurdist wordplay was created by taking an ordinary phrase
say, "a free lunch" then altering it by adding a word
"free lunch box...box car...car parked" and so on.
loads of fun, but a lot of work.

*one night while dining at L.A.'s oldest restaurant Musso and Frank's
I saw Teri Garr sitting in a booth with a male friend.
I happened to have a copy of mr. music head in my bag.
I sauntered over to Ms. Garr and gave her the copy,
telling her that her name was mentioned somewhere on the record.
I've always wondered if she ever figured it out.

guitar, drums, string bass, percussion, piano with mallets, "e" voice: adrian
engineer: rich denhart
assistant: dan harjung
recorded at Royal Recorders in Lake Geneva, Wis.
sometime in early 1989
remixed at StudioBelew by ken latchney in 1999
length: 3:39

Monday, March 17, 2008

Gypsy Zurna (home demo)


gypsy zurna (home demo)
volume 2 number 14

these trial and error arrangements for gypsy zurna were recorded in my dining room
using a small 4-track machine.

GR-700 guitar synth, electric upright bass, log drum: adrian
recorded at home by adrian sometime in 1984
length: 3:52

Monday, March 10, 2008

No Such Guitar


no such guitar
volume 3 number 9

another of our FREE downloads from the coming attractions record.

guitar, drums: adrian
engineer: rich denhart assistant: dan harjung recorded at Royal Recorders in Lake Geneva, Wis. on Jan. 14, 1988 re-mixed by ken latchney using the Incoherent Phase Modulation Process
length: 3:58

Two Minute Orchestra/Egyptian With Pause


two minute orchestra/egyptian with pause
volume 2 number 12

this first piece come from the desire caught by the tail period.
I thought it might open the record as thought the "orchestra" were tuning up a bit.

the egyptian piece is a song I still intend to write.
someday.

two minute orchestra:
guitar synthesizer: adrian
engineer: rich denhart

recorded at Creative Audio, Urbana, Il.

on March 27, 1984

length:2:52


egyptian with pause:
guitar, guitar synthe, log drum: adrian
recorded by adrian at home in Urbana, Il.

sometime in 1984
length: 1:12

Monday, March 3, 2008

Here (instrumental)


here (instrumental)
volume 4 number 9

while I studied the track and dreamed up a vocal and words this is what it sounded like.

note: for those of you who are collecting these gems, this finishes out volume 4. you should have the full set of 16 tracks now.

guitar, drum machine, log drum: adrian

recorded by adrian at home in Williams Bay, Wis.

on Aug. 11, 1992

length: 3:47


People (demo)


people (demo)
volume 4 number 12

note: certain tracks from dust are already available on coming attractions.
one at a time we will make these available as FREE downloads for those of you
who may be collecting the entire set of dust tracks as MP3s. people is one such track.

king crimson spent a month in argentina as a means to write and play in new material
for what would be our first record of the 90's thrak. nearing the end of this process I
felt we were low on "upbeat" material and so offered this song to the band. though I
had made this demo version a year before, the band never heard it (I didn't have it with me)
which is probably just as well. the krimson version is very different from this one I recorded alone.

drums, string bass, guitar, guitar synth, vocals: adrian
engineer: noah evens

recorded at home in Williams Bay, Wis.
on Sept. 24, 1992
length: 3:49