Vids
Courtesy of Glenn Case (and I’m assuming it’s his wife Rachael behind the camera), here are videos of my Santa Cruz set.
For the Time Being
Alisha
Across the Dusty Plains
Birds of Our Own
A Week Without Ears
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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
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
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.
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.
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.
August 25th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
hey dude. i’m a long time fan, and i’ve been writing and recording for a while now too. one thing i’ve noticed in your music is the really good use of sampled drums. like, not trying to make them sound real, but using them creatively in a way that sounds fake on purpose. especially on, like, “wild horses” and “it’s always something.” i’ve been trying to do the same thing but i just can’t seem to come up with things that sound like anything except bad midi.
do you think you could provide any tips, hints, tricks… maybe links to the samples you use?
thanks man
-john
August 25th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Hi John- The samples I’ve been using the most lately are the 808 and 909 kits that come with Fruity Loops for the synth-sounding stuff and samples of my own kit for the semi-real sounding stuff. Nothing special, really. I used to be all about samples from the Kalava archive: http://hem.passagen.se/lej97/kalava/ , which has a wide variety in it.
But it sounds like you’ve got the basic idea – if you’re gonna use fake drums, make them sound really fake. Go for the synthesized drum sounds and don’t be afraid to program something that a drummer couldn’t play. Lay out your basic pattern and then try putting weird sounds in the empty spaces. Though honestly, I don’t have much of method. Sometimes I just randomly hit spots on the grid and see how it sounds.