Posts Tagged ‘else’

{ELSE} Releases “Seven So Few”

December 8th, 2023

Continuing the every-other-year in December pattern, {ELSE} released new music today! We focused on shorter-form format this time, with a package of three songs that combine to tell a story of disillusion, destructive obsession, and ultimately hope and redemption. The album draws on religious and nautical symbolism, reflected in the title and artwork in addition to the lyrics. Seven seas. Seven sins. Seven So Few.

{ELSE} Releases “Here Waiting”

December 14th, 2021

After releasing “Through What We Knew” almost exactly two years ago, {ELSE} immediately got to work on an acoustic mini-project that turned into a something much bigger. Originally intended to be be a three-song mini-release, the effort grew to nine tracks and a great deal of work. A drastic change in pace from the previous two releases, “Here Waiting” does not use any electric guitars and instead blends acoustic sounds with a complement of creative percussion arrangements, synthesizers, and soundscapes.

Personally, this was a big project for me as it really stretched my creative muscles. I very intentionally avoided using the same instrumentation twice, and the songwriting process went through many more rounds of editing than is typical for me. I hope the results speak for themselves!

{ELSE} Releases “Through What We Knew”

December 13th, 2019

NEW. {ELSE}. ALBUM. Again… NEW. {ELSE}. ALBUM. Another several-year project done. An album release show later tonight. Another month or two of rest and recovery planned before starting the next one.

This album, like our previous “Who Will Cry”, ended up taking way longer than anything should, beginning with recording my guitar parts back in November/December of 2017. Bass and the other guitar parts followed in January-March of 2018, followed by vocals in the summer of 2018. At this time, we had to pause in recording to train our new drummer, who did an amazing job learning the songs and recorded his parts at home in March of 2019. I spent several weeks of heavy mixing sessions after the drums were in, and then spent the summer slowly poking at the mixes every few weeks while planning the release show, eventually settling on what you hear now.

Though still very proud of our initial album, Through What We Knew is a colossal improvement in many ways. The newer songs are better written, with a greater variety of sounds, textures, and tempos, and the production value is better. I still am not happy with the guitar sounds on the first album, despite remastering, so this time around we focused on tighter, more-focused, more meaty guitars. It’s a big improvement, but honestly still something to work on for the next album. I learned a bit more about mixing bass, using a touch less volume but a more consistent low end to always fill the space without overpowering the rest of the mix. I focused on more present vocals with a more focused EQ, less reverb, and better compression, and used more suitable reverb and EQ on the drums for a more lively sound.

Anyway, I hope you like it! I’ve listened to the songs hundreds of times now and still like them, so I think that says something. Maybe.

New {ELSE} Album Later This Year

September 15th, 2019

It’s been another long writing, recording, mixing, and mastering journey, but the end is nigh! {ELSE} released a two-track preview of our new album, Through What We Knew. Take a listen!

{ELSE} Releases “Who WIll Cry”

March 20th, 2015

11034419_581041585366316_1258135275416596239_oAfter a ton of hard work which began all the way back in December of 2013, {ELSE} is releasing our debut album! It’s 8 songs long but still clocks in at 40 minutes and took probably hundreds of hours to finish. I laid down most of my guitar parts and recorded our bassist in December of 2013, and then things sort of stalled as our original singer quit and we hunted for a new one. During that hunt, I ended up recording ALL of the remaining guitar parts and added FX and mixed and mixed and re-mixed and mixed some more. Finally, in September of 2014 we had a new singer and new vocal parts so we recorded those. In February of this year, guitar tracks from our other guitarist and drums were finally added. I ended up going back and removing some of my guitar parts to add Nate’s in, and mixed drums for the first time in my life. There were TONS of mistakes and lessons learned along the way, including one frantic call to the CD pressing company to throw out a disc which had an error on it. We’re holding a CD release party tonight and I don’t think I’ve been more excited for many other things in my life, except maybe my wedding and the 1-year anniversary trip to Europe I have planned with my lovely wife!

Else Demos Released

December 9th, 2013

All (well, most) of the Else demos I’ve worked on over the last few years have been officially released via Bandcamp. I’ve spent countless hours writing, revising, and recording this material at a pace of about a song a month. All guitars/bass/FX are performed by myself  and recorded at home using my Line6 POD X3 Live.

Listen to the Else demo material »

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Mastering

August 13th, 2013

I’ve been learning a bit about the mastering process with the recent Else and Pay the Devil recordings. It occurred to me while I was listening to the Else demo at work that it sounded better through iTunes than it did online. I attributed this to the EQ settings within iTunes and then thought,”Well, if this EQ sounds better, why don’t I just apply that to the track?”

So I did. Read the rest of this entry »

Else Shows

July 21st, 2013

Else played last night at the Whammy Bar, has another show next weekend in Madison, and two shows set up in August now. We’re really settling into a groove with our setlists and having a great time playing. We’ve met some fantastic bands along the way and are going to look to set up more shows with them in the upcoming months. For complete details, check out Else’s calendar ».

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Getting Busy

May 31st, 2013

I’m setting myself up for a delightfully busy summer by scheduling gigs with Else, Pay the Devil, and Of the North. I’ve created a calendar page so that you guys can keep track of me!

Playing with Pay the Devil

May 15th, 2013

This summer I’ll be playing with Pay the Devil as their drummer, kid you not, is biking across the country. Pay the Devil is a Milwaukee-based bluegrass band featuring banjo, mandolin, and guitar, and I’ve played a few shows alongside them with Of the North. I’ll be playing spoons, snare, tambourine, and my improvised accordion case bass drum. They’ve got A LOT of material for me to learn, but thankfully spoons is just a tad easier than cello, so I’m picking things up quickly.

Alongside the first few shows with Else and Of the North starting to rehearse and perform again, I’m going to have a busy summer.