10 Responses to “The Weak Moment (BETA)”

1. Brian Says:
   August 12th, 2006 at 6:47 pm

   The vocals actually sound great in all of the songs.
   I was going to say they sounded a bit loud in “Boundaries”, but on second listen, it actually sounds natural to have them that loud.
   I like “One Less” a lot. Heck, I like all of these a lot. That one’s just one I like a whole lot though.
   Parts of “I Know My Rights” make me think of Bob Marley.

   Brian

2. taylor Says:
   August 12th, 2006 at 9:55 pm

   of the 3 songs i listened to, (the first three…), i liked what i heard. i’m no good at hearing things that need little tweakings, but im sure this album will be great.

   also, i just got back from canada, and checked in on this site after listening to divider and bad guy all week on my trip. thanks for being my soundtrack, and having a nice set of songs for me to come back to!

3. Yook Says:
   August 12th, 2006 at 11:13 pm

   Grabbed these just now. Will listen and comment tomorrow, when I can actually play music at a good volume…as opposed to now, around midnight. Yup. P.S. Yay!

4. Evan Erwin Says:
   August 13th, 2006 at 12:22 pm

   Two songs in, your vocals are seriously overpowering. Tone them down, it will sound much better.

5. jeff Says:
   August 13th, 2006 at 8:32 pm

   Awesome. Thanks for the comments so far, guys.

6. Erik Says:
   August 23rd, 2006 at 7:57 am

   Jeff,
   The album sounds awesome! Very rich and full. I love the nice piano sounds, is that synth, or did you get a real piano? I think the vocals sound good right where they are at. Great job!

   -Erik

7. frankie Says:
   September 16th, 2006 at 12:32 pm

   Hey dude,
   I’m only on the third track, but I think the vocals sound right where they are. But my real reason to chime in is to compliment you on your excellent drumming. You’re like a real drummer now! Seriously. That third track has a jazz-waltz feel to it which is not easy. Anyway, I’m enjoying a lot of the sonic combinations you have going on here, especially the first track, which I think is really spot on instrument-wise. We Have the Technology reminds me of late-period Rush, heh. (Lines like “we are duty-bound” could have come right from “Roll the Bones.”) I doubt such an influence is even remotely possible, so it’s pretty funny tht you arrived at such a sound. I wonder if anyone else will agree of if everyone will think I’m crazy. Anyway, so far so good. I’ll come back with more comments when I’m through.
   –Frank

8. frankie Says:
   September 16th, 2006 at 12:59 pm

   I’m Going Away For A While is my favorite song on the record. Very nice.

   I do have a complaint. (Well, not a complaint exactly, but yuo know what I mean.) Following Chance with Method of Delivery didn’t really work for me because those two songs sound too much alike. They’re both in the same key (I think) and they have similar melodies and feels–kind of ends up sounding like one long song and, as a result, subtracts from both of them. Personally, I like Method of Delivery much more than Chance, but I think I’d like it even more if it wasn’t adjoined to Chance (which I don’t like all that much, to be honest). I’m sure you’ve got these tracks layed out exactly as you want them, but you asked for feedback and that was something that struck me as a problem.

   Boundaries is a good closer and doesn’t seem long despite its 7+ minutes. Good record–I’m looking forward to listening to it again soon.

9. jeff Says:
   September 19th, 2006 at 10:31 am

   Awesome. Thanks for comments, Frank. I definitely appreciate the compliments on my drumming. I’ve still got a long way to go, but at least I’m getting there.

   I kind of see your point about Chance/Method (they are pretty similar), but I wonder if people who like Chance have the same problem with Method. Nevertheless, I’m pretty attached to tracklist because of the way I made the songs. They were written one after the other. That is, I played “I Know My Rights” and then came up with something to play next. And after I’d come up with the next song, I’d play Rights and Concentrating and then see where I wanted to go next. It’s a pretty fun way to do it, actually.

   Right now, I’m planning to tone down the vox a little bit. I’ll try to split the difference, since people are on both sides of the fence, and my gut tells me they’re a little loud too. I actually have been having the exact problem discuss (viciously argued) in this Songfight forum thread. When I listen with my monitors, I mix the vox down. Then I switch to headphones and mix them back up.

10. frankie Says:
    September 24th, 2006 at 9:17 am

    Yeah, I figured the song order was set based on the track-to-track flow, but I still thought it worrth mentioning.

    I have problems when I switch back and forth between headphones and monitors, so I try not to mix in headphones too much. But I hard;y ever do anyhthing the same way twice, so I’m a terrible one for giving any sort of mixing advice.

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Music

The Weak Moment

1. I Know My Rights
2. I’m Having Trouble Concentrating
3. One Less
4. We Have the Technology
5. I’m Going Away for a While
6. Chance
7. Method of Delivery
8. Boundaries

[Artwork]

---

Started as a “mini-album,” I started it in Feb.2006, finished recording in July, and posted the final songs in December. The gimmick here is that I recorded myself playing the songs in order and in one session, and those tracks (lead vocal/rhythm guitar) became the basis for the final versions. I wrote the songs in order as well. They’re all from Song Fight titles. So I’d play through a song I’d written, and when it was over, I’d pick a new title to go with and see what kind of song should come next.

Divider Why Are You Doing This?

1. You’re a True Believer
2. It’s Always Something
3. Let It All Burn
4. It Won’t Last
5. Flagwavers
THE ECHO CHAMBER
7. Don’t Be Afraid
8. Uniter
9. Divider
10. Open Your Eyes

[Artwork]

You can buy Divider at CD Baby.

---

Started in 2003. Intended to be done in 2003. Instead, I finally tore myself away from the last mix in October 2004. I had to post it on the web just to keep myself from messing with it into infinity. Delays continued, and I finally received my box of CDs for selling in late January 2005, about a week after the inauguration of the original Divider.

It’s a semi-political album… but hopefully more to me than to anybody else. Personally political. I wouldn’t really want it to be specific about that stuff lest the life get sucked out of the music once the national tide turns.

The CD has the video for “Let It All Burn” on it as well as some extra mp3s:
Cold Sweat
Complaining
Don’t Be Afraid (acoustic)
Don’t Let the Waiting Wear You Out
It Comes and It Goes
It Won’t Last (alternate)
Sad Saints
They Will Sing
Voices Constantly
Your God Is an Idol
Your God Is an Idol (Acoustic)

Add Covers Achtung Baby

1. Zoo Station
2. Even Better Than the Real Thing
3. One
4. Until the End of the World
5. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
6. So Cruel
7. The Fly
8. Mysterious Ways
9. Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World
10. Ultraviolet
11. Acrobat
12. Love is Blindness

Songs written by U2
Produced/performed by Jeff Fal

I needed to work, and I needed to work fast. So I ditched the burden of writing songs. We were listening to this album on a roadtrip to and from California. It was speaking to me.

[Artwork]

Please Let Your Faith and Patience Be Mine

1. Scared to Death
2. Locked Box
3. Towering Inferno
4. What’s Happening to Me?
5. Shades of Black
6. New York
7. Good Morning!
8. Coming Dear
9. Red
10. When Have I Been Wrong?
11. Air Traffic
12. Maybe So

Songs made by Jeff Fal

Made in late 2002 and early 2003, this was an unrealistic project undertaken by me and some of my Song Fight friends. We came up with 12 titles by secret ritual and then attempted to each write and record songs for all 12 titles within a month. We gave up that deadline in favor of making more polished work, which I think is for the better. The companion albums for this are Frankie Big Face’s Smile If You Absolutely Have To and John Benjamin’s Feel Things Deeply.

You can order it here.

Dirty Water

1. Back Like This
2. A Reason to Stay
3. Choose My Battles
4. Dirty Water
5. Alone
6. Carrying On
7. Exactly the Same
8. I Know Better
9. Wears on Me
10. Let It Go
11. I Feel Bad
12. The Smile on Your Face
13. I Know Better

Songs made by Jeff Fal

This album took me all of 2002 to make. Ok, That’s not completely true. Probably 80% of the work got done in the summer. There are a couple of songs from before then, and I did a lot of mixing and remixing afterwards. But all in all, I’d say it’s a summer document. Something about summers… They just get me working.

[Artwork]

Songfight Songs: Feb 2001-Feb 2002

1. Midnight Rendezvous
2. Don’t Dance
3. Shipwreck
4. On a Line
5. Black Hole
6. Dad, I’m Changing
7. Listen Close
8. It’s Invisible
9. Been to China
10. A Thousand Swords
11. I Can See You
12. Do It for Captain
13. Red Robot
14. Birds of Our Own
15. Firecrackers
16. Acid Mouth
17. Experimental Fashion
18. Secrets
19. Hotel

Bad Guy

1. I Won’t Be There
2. Hard Enough
3. Fall Apart
4. Five o’Clock
5. Guess You’re on a Plane
6. I Know This Won’t Solve My Problems
7. Maddie
8. Bad Guy
9. Quit Breaking My Heart
10. Tell You Today

Songs made by Jeff Fal

This is an album I recorded in the summer of 2001. It’s actually the third or fourth album I made, but this was the first one after people other than me and my brother began to listen to my music. Which is fine, because those others weren’t great, and Bad Guy was really the first time I succeeded at recording an album of songs that all belonged together that were also all good songs. Of course, to accomplish that, I had to set myself the modest goal of 25 minutes. Actually, my goal was 30 minutes, but you take what you can get.

[Artwork]

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