People's Entries in the Diary of Rubbish (2008)
download a zip of the ep-length project with album art (320k mp3)
listen/read about the project below
People's Entries in the Diary of Rubbish is an ep-length recording experiment. The subject matter is a former British conductor and Renaissance music expert who contracted viral encephalitis and lost all but his shortest-term memory. Each time he takes a drink of coffee is his first drink, but he remembers well what coffee is. He can still play the piano and conduct beautifully, but the moment the music stops, "he's lost again" and begins spluttering in a near-seizure. His continued and deeply emotional love for and connection with his wife is as powerful as the frustration and anger he feels every time his brain snaps back to the present, which is every minute or so. I am deeply affected by this story, and working on this piece was intensely rewarding.
The project is a collaboration with Jeremy Prouty, with whom I play in Voodoo Ec. and Upholstery. Js. Prouty played all the bass guitar and some guitar for the thing, recorded vocals for the second track, was heavily involved in the initial recording/planning/lyric-writing stages, and was a continual source of great ideas and support over the last two years. Justin Gibbon laid down a couple of choice drum beats, and Carlos Ramirez (a harpsichordist/vocalist/superhero who teaches musicology at Temple University) contributed some Renaissance-style counter-tenor.
The album art was designed by the lovely Kennedy, who has created five (!) pieces of album art for you to ponder while you listen. The one at the top of the page is the lightest of the five. It probably goes best with track 4, "blinkered moment." Check them all out in your zip file or in images.
The album is probably not appropriate as casual listening material. It is challenging, strange, disturbing at times, and (if successful) exceptionally emotional and hauntingly beautiful; it will not make you bop your head as you drive down the road with your friends. Though it borrows heavily from popular music, it only passes through its forms and rarely gives you the feeling of being inside of a song. It is not professionally mastered, so you will likely need to turn your stereo up a bit louder than normal. I did not compress the album too much (that's how you get an album to be super loud at the expense of the soft parts; see the loudness wars), so expect it to be quite dynamic.
didn't respond to analgesics
color the damage
perfectly awake first time
blinkered moment
lie down time is here
