Last Thursday I spent all day at the Hideaway Studio with Joe Mabbott for the final mixing session of the record. Everything went great and I feel super confident that the album is a wrap musically.  My friend deVon (aka dVRG) even came in to lay down some sweet rhodes lines.  It ruled, he killed it.  Below is a pretty low quality picture of him ripping it up, and you can click on the following link to see a short video of it: deVon rhodes video.

Other than that it was just a matter of working out all the little kinks and tweaks to help me continue to tolerate these songs.  Usually at this point in the “making of an album” stage I start to despise the songs a little because I’ve heard them each about seventy trillion times.  Even the slightest kick sound being not quite right will drive me insane.  So the final mix day is super important.   It always makes me feel a lot better about the project.  And man do I feel awesome right now.  Here’s a picture of what it looks like when all of the mixing tweaks get handled.  One of the greatest joys in this life for me is crossing things off a list.  Bam, mission accomplished.

So yeah, the mixing of the album is done and I’ve come up with the song sequence too.  And at this moment in time at least, I don’t hate this record.  In fact I might be totally in love with it, and I’m extremely excited for people to hear it.  As much as it would rule to put it out right now though, it’s looking like a late summer release is a lot more realistic in order to really push it right.  I can live with that, summer’s gonna fly by anyways.  Hopefully I can leak a track or two on here a bit earlier too.  

So at this point we move into the next phase: VISUALZ.  The fun stuff.  I’m meeting with my ultimate homie Matt Scharenbroich today to start diving in to all things album artwork and music videos, and I’m way pumped about it.  He’s the drummer in TPC! and did all the artwork for almost every single one of those records.  You can check out his website HERE .  I’ll keep you posted on how everything is turning out for sure.  

For now I leave you with a fantastic Bonus Jam from Joey Scarbury, because I feel so free right now.  Ha!  Have an incredible week big duns.

Click here to view the embedded video.

– Beak

www.twitter.com/_LAZERBEAK_

Anyways, with spring being right around the corner I thought I would take this opportunity to talk in great detail about one of my all time favorite activities: Tubing. 

Few things in this life will ever rival the triumphant feeling of slowly floating down a river in an inner tube, tied to several other wonderful friend’s inner tubes,  drinking beers and Mike’s Hard Raspberry Lemonades (or strawberry pop) on a bright, hot summer afternoon.  If you have never experienced it first hand, my heart aches for you.  It is the thought and promise of future tubing excursions in fact that generally motivates me through the long Minnesota winter months.  And so over the last three years or so, we have started this tradition of treking out to the Cannon River every July around my birthday for an epic tubing/camping weekend.  Brings a smile to my face just typing this stuff.  As we get closer to July I will try to break down some more detailed Do’s and Dont’s of Tubing, and hopefully at that time I’ll also be able to share with you a song off my new record all about this tubing tradition.  For now though I just wanted to put the thought in everybody’s head while we still have all of spring and summer ahead of us:  Make sure to go tubing this year.  You owe at least that much to yourself. 

Below is a very special Bonus Jam.  It is easily the greatest song ever written about tubing and it rules super hard.  It’s by Hockey Night, off their Top 5 Best Albums of the Decade record “Keep Guessin,” and it somehow manages to capture the wonder, joy, and lazyness of this incredible activity in musical form.  Enjoy. 

UPDATE:  My iTunes file is too big to upload on here, so this is a link to the song on last.fm (Bonus Jam fail):

Hockey Night – Tubin’

Hope you have a wonderful week.  See you next Tuesday.     

– Beak

Click for more

Little Johnny from The Hospital by Co-Flow:

I know there are more but these are what I found and thought about today:

36 Chambers:

Reasonable Doubt:

Ok Computer:

Midnight Marauders:

Aquemini:

Voodo:

The Great Adventures Of:

Let It Bleed:

Endtroducing:

Illmatic:

Graceland:

Funcrusher Plus:

Black On Both Sides:

De La Soul is Dead:

I’m certain that there are dozens more but these are the records that I have distinct memories of going to the store to grab again. Sometimes I’d go years without having a copy of some of these but I always come back to them. I think that the return to them is the hallmark of amazing and lasting art. I’m curious as to what your re-buys have been. I wish we could get a convo going on this site but we’ll have to send that to twitter. Holler at me: www.twitter.com/SIMSdoomtree

“Lazerbeak’s List Of Some Pretty Awesome Things (At This Moment In Time At Least)”

The Wire

Per usual, I am way late to this party.  I’ve heard people say this is the greatest TV show ever for at least five years and yet did nothing.  Well I’ve finally given in to my curiosity and it turns out that The Wire is indeed the greatest TV show ever (at this moment in time at least).  But you probably already knew that.  I’ve been watching an episode or two before I go to bed every night for the last few months, and I’m just starting the final season tonight.  Man I am gonna be sad when it’s over.  

Maxwell “BLACKsummers’night”

I never really got that into Maxwell growing up, so when his new record dropped this summer I didn’t give it much thought, except that what they played on KMOJ sounded pretty sweet.  Sims put me onto the album a few months back and it continues to be on constant rotation.  Sounds simultaneously like an old soul record and yet also like it’s from the future at the exact same time.  There are some serious jams on here.  Plus his performance at the Grammy’s was one of the only non-vomit inducing songs the whole night (and he brought Roberta Flack up on stage!).  I’m pretty sure watching the American Idiot: Broadway Musical performance took several years off my life.

Die Antwoord

You’ve probably already heard all about this: the latest international sensation to hit the internets over the last few weeks.  Some really weird trashy rap/rave group from South Africa .  I’ve read a lot of articles that this is a total joke (a la Da Ali G Show) but I really could care less.  The beats are pretty great, the raps aren’t even half bad, plus they have an incredible looking website with all sorts of cool videos and songs and pictures and whatnot.  I’ve definitely spent several hours trying to figure it all out and wasn’t even upset when I realized how much time I had wasted.  Am I crazy for genuinely enjoying this stuff, and not on an ironic level either?  Give it to me straight, I can take it.

Total Waste Of Time

Totalwasteoftime.tumblr.com to be exact.  This is a new website that my good friend MJ started recently.  He posts totally hilarious stuff that he finds on the internets at breakneck speeds.  Seriously, if you like  a website to be constantly updated with new content, this is the one for you.  I generally check this every night before falling asleep and it never disappoints.  I always laugh my ass off.  Check it out.  Below is just a small taste of what is in store.

Well, that concludes this edition of “Lazerbeak’s List Of Pretty Awesome Things (At This Moment In Time At Least)”. I’ll try to come up with a better list for the next blog.  Hope you have a great week and I’ll see you next Tuesday for sure.

– Beak

Ahhhh yes, here is the 4th installment of the 20 min mix.

This one takes us back to the early 90’s with new jack swing.

What a wonderful time, it wasn’t really R+B, it really wasn’t Rap,

but something in between, and all together awesome. It reminds

me of very bright colored suits, and questionable dance moves.

So let’s get it crackin’ and I’ll hit you with another one real soon.

> (Right Click to Download)

The first week I was gone I was in Aspen Colorado. I DJ a party for the X-games out there, and it was as much if not more fun than last time. I got to stay in a baller ass hotel room for 6 days, and live like a king.

Then, I flew home for just around 9 and a half hours, then went on a mini tour with P.O.S and Dessa. Played a few shows, had a few laughs, I loved it… but my  jump rope skills need help.

And Grieves and Budo where there too. Sweet dudes all day.

Then I flew from Salt Lake city to New York City for a week or so. Got to hang with my friends out there, all good things.

Love that place. Well, I am home now, and loving it. Back to the grind.

Now for some heavier news.  Yesterday morning my Gramps, Harvey “Guts” Mader, passed away at the ripe old age of 94.  I honestly thought he might just outlive us all.  He was an incredible man who will be missed greatly and remembered always.  I just wanted to relay a few random memories of him that will always make me smile, while they’re still fresh in my head.    

- The man loved soup.  It did not matter what type of restaurant we went to, soup was gonna be had.  At the end of a long day, he would regularly take the newspaper and a bowl of soup into the bathtub and take a bath while enjoying both.  Unbelievable.  As a kid I thought this was the single most awesome thing a person could do.   I tried it several times.  It rules.  I highly recommend you give it a shot sometime.  To this day I think it must be the reason that I love soup so much myself.   

- When he turned 90 we planned a huge surprise birthday for him in Chicago with all sorts of friends and family from all over the country.  When he walked into the huge banquet room and we all jumped up to surprise him, his pants fell down completely to the floor.  Ha!  I’m talking some America’s Funniest Video grand prize winner video if I can find it.  Hilarious.  

- He spent the majority of his life completely immersed in politics and registering people to vote.  It was his passion.  He helped on numerous campaigns in Chicago.  Him and my Grandma would even come up and stay with us every time Wellstone was running for election to help out at his offices.  Just last year after Obama won, Gramps got an invitation from the Democratic Party to attend the inauguration.  And so at 93, his caretaker drove them from Chicago to D.C. to be a part of history.  They even sat him next to the Tuskegge Airmen, as a World War II vet.  Such an amazing exclamation point on a life devoted to bringing about political change. 

Absolutely as legendary as they come.  Love you Gramps.  Rest in peace.

– Beak

Check 5:50, LL tv cop J is goin in! Killin em son!