how the light gets in

Kristian Anderson was a good friend of ours, a hard worker who always had time to help us out in one way or another. over the last ten years we have schemed about how to get Andy and I down to Australia where Kris could shoot a live acoustic performance for a DVD package.

this September, sick with cancer but still relentlessly cheerful and positive, Kris made the trip to LA with his new red epic camera to shoot us in the studio working on the new album. it was the realization of a longstanding goal for both of us — to meet each other face to face and to get some wicked footage.

before he passed at the beginning of this year, Kris managed to do a rough cut of some footage for one of the songs. I’m not sure what will happen to the rest of the stuff he shot, but I wanted to make this available as a tribute to Kris, his gifts, his passion for music and video, and his example to all of us to get off our asses and go for it, all the way to the end.

I’m also making the audio for this track the Free Mp3 of the Month, since I kind of like it better than the album take from Unplugged. just click above to get it. you can check out Kris’ blog here and his posthumous book right here.

thanks, Kris. we owe you one.

maguchi is playing with a full house

what lies beneath

so, I just got out of a retreat cabin. eight days of no people. no phone. no computer. just me and my mind and a wood stove for heat that sometimes worked and sometimes inexplicably filled the cabin with smoke.

I did a lot of zen retreats in my 20s, but this was my first one since becoming a dad. ten 40 minute periods of meditation, with walking meditation in between, just watching the play of mind as it reaches out over and over for something to latch onto, something to keep it entertained. somehow, just paying attention isn’t enough. we need a show.

sitting for that long boiled it all down for me in a way I can’t experience in my day to day life: I’m just a human being among other human beings, doing the best I can. underneath the judgments we pile on ourselves, I think this is what we all are.

sometimes I think that, without killing myself daily with judgment — all the ways in which I don’t add up, all the ways I assumed my life would turn out that haven’t — that I won’t ever become who I dreamed of becoming, that I will somehow let myself off the hook.

I got a chance to see that all that judgment is the way I keep myself locked down, my face in the shitter, instead of accepting what is — my humanness — and going from there. from that starting point, rooted in reality, I can create something new in my life.

so here’s to taking some time off from the rat race, unplugging, and seeing what lies beneath.

etc.

happiness. new free mp3 of the month

k, I’m getting serious about these free mp3 of the month things. and by that I mean that I’m gonna get off my ass and actually make them happen, like, every month.

I’ve got tons of stuff lying around. much of it (like this month’s special) is the kind of half-assed sketch that makes for either 1) random, disposable nonsense, 2) great starter fertilizer for something that might, with a bunch o’ work, be cool, or 3) demo brilliance, needing just a tweak and a polish before it’s ready for prime time.

still not sure where ‘happiness’ falls in this. it was such a happy vibe & riff I thought I’d actually not ruin it and give it a lyric that fit. usually I like to inflict my existential torment on you all (you know you love it), but in this case I thought I’d just get my sugar tooth on and cop an indie-pop vibe. it’s easy. and fun!

it doesn’t necessarily get us any closer to having a new black lab album done, but you all know I’m too ADD when it comes to genre to be held down to any one (or five). anyhoo, let us know what you think — and let your friends know too, send ‘em a link.

free music. on the internet! who knew?!

and now for something completely different

so, maybe it’s cause we just made an acoustic album — you know, like, pianos and acoustic guitars and nice drums made out of wood and skin and stuff — but I’m hungry for some electro. I don’t mean the cheesy BEP type, I mean good ole’ trip hop, the dark and chilly stuff. dunno why I like it so much but somehow finding a way to integrate it into the black lab sound has been one of my favorite creative moves over the years.

specifically, I’m thinking ‘this night.‘ somehow, that melody and lyric theme works so well with just a simple twisted beat, organ and fake sitar that it’s probably spent more time getting hummed in my head than any other bl track the last ten years.

‘weightless‘ and ‘the window‘ are a few other good examples of this sound — pure, dark, rhythmic, not a lot of filler, just lots of electronically generated space in which to sing. the machine does all the work and all I have to do is relax and tell a story.

so I’ve been thinking, ‘why not a whole album of this stuff?’ I mean, I know I would like it. nothing I love more than letting myself get super depressed, turning all the lights off except the red ones, and running a dark, trippy loop for a few hours while I whine and moan and growl my way to a melody.

what do you guys think?