Thursday, May 13, 2010

FFS II Synth Jam 2010 - '80s Style

***BREAKING NEWS***

Floating Fish Studios is proud to announce Synth Jam 2010 - '80s Style which is scheduled for Saturday 05/15/10 at FFS II.  The unconfirmed line up is rumored to include Matt Norcross (aka Ttam Troll), M Scott McConnell (aka MC2P4), and Dave Chandler (aka The Sub One Genius).  Special guests are also expected and will be announced later.

Our third in a series of Synth Jam Sessions at FFS II will be the first to stray from our completely improvisational agenda.  In this session, we'll be composing an '80s influenced dance track to be used in an upcoming Julie L Myers produced music video.  More details to follow.

P.S. This photo was taken at the new FFS in 07/09.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

LTJTHC at FFS

LTJTHC in between takes during an Any Questions? - Integration recording session at the old FFS on 02/19/05.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Zero Müsik Research

Rising from the fog enshrouded pyramids of OBO, the original Obomatic infiltration unit formed a new collective named Zero Müsik Research. This experimental consortium of audiologists included ZeroTroll - Electric Bass, ZeroP4 - Electric Guitar, and ZeroO - Electronic Drums.

As the name suggests, the musical experiments that we conducted were completely improvised. We literally did Zero Müsik Research before attempting them.

The experiment, titled Angst, that I'm going to share with you today was recorded using live room mics at O Control Studios in Philadelphia, PA on 02/29/04. This song represents a complete departure from the usual brand of electronic music that we produced together as Obomatic and as our other current and past projects, Any Questions? and Punch Drunk. Stripped of all of our electronic gadgetry, we composed organic, nearly human music with only a bass, guitar, and drums.

The Zero Müsik Research collective was short lived and only existed for a few months in early 2004 but luckily left us a recorded history of its existence. Here is Zero Müsik Research - Angst...

Monday, May 10, 2010

Ken Chandler sings with Any Questions?


In Fall 1989, we formed our electro-terrorist unit called Any Questions?. In the very early days of the band, MC2P4 wrote and sang most of the vocal parts but we also worked with a few other singers before I (Ttam Troll) eventually took over all of the singing (term used "loosely") duties.

One of these singers, whom I wrote about in an earlier post, was Brian "Who" Black but the first singer we worked with was our friend, Ken Chandler. MC2P4 and I had both known Ken for many years and had played in several bands with him. Some of these bands included Fantasia, This Mistress, and The Secret Society (rev 2).

One weekend in Fall 1989, we invited Ken to visit and record with us at Der Palast des Goldes. We (Any Questions?) had been working on several songs and, by this time, had three (Nightfall, Numan (Madonna's Puss), and Vagary) that we felt were ready for vocals. We played these songs for Ken and then turned over our Fostex X-15 Multitracker 4-Track Cassette Recorder and pair of headphones to him so he could listen to them and compose lyrics.

After a day of sporadic work and excessive partying, which frequently happened at Der Palast des Goldes, Ken had finished lyrics for these songs and we endeavored to record them. The second song that we recorded is one entitled Vagary. It's quite different than a "typical" Any Questions? song. This pensive synth rock experiment showcases the more varied experimental sound of early Any Questions?. I hope you enjoy it.