Thugs and China Dolls: Now In Stores
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Prepared Piano (in the Forest)
Suny Lyons “prepares” pianos the old fashioned way: by hurling them into the woods behind his studio, breaking them apart with hammers, then miking the pile. This in service of building the chaotic ending for the song “Thugs and China Dolls.”
More photos of Suny’s handiwork after the jump.
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Jeremy Picks Up Good Vibrations
Jeremy Wheatley takes us to Creepsville while tracking for “Thugs and China Dolls.” He bows a vibraphone in search of just the right electric-saw sound.
Jim White, Aficionado of the Found
Below you’ll see Jim White, producer and aficionado of the found, recording improvisations on his homemade bell-box contraption for “Simon Says.”
Thanks to Jim, who’s producing it, the song has finally taken on a life of its own. A few months back I was toying with the idea of leaving this song off the new record, because an arrangement was eluding me. What we did this weekend was lovely, thanks to Jim, Suny, Andrew, JoJo, and Liz.
JoJo in a Cibachrome Haze
JoJo Glidewell (Modern Skirts) developing a very pretty piano line for “Simon Says.”
My Middleschool Dream
If not for braces, I would’ve played the French horn in middle school. Instead, I had to play baritone. Liz Hartin made a dream deferred finally come true today. Here she is tracking French horn on “Simon Says.”
Strings Galore
Andrew Smalls building another layer of strings for “Simon Says.” Andrew is one of the first musicians who Jim brought in. And in a dozen or so passes he had totally transformed the landscape of the song.
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TV on the Radio on the Bus
Having experienced a fiasco in an attempt to track horns in Athens, GA—in fact, I emerged from that experience believing I may be suffering from a curse when it comes to horns in Georgia—I was forced to track my horns in a land where horns reside on every corner: Brooklyn. Today, I tracked trombone, trumpet, alto sax and clarinet in Seth Rothschild’s studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And not just any horn section, but the same horn section that appears on TV on the Radio’s new record. Yay for me. Yay for us. Yay for the big ole Greyhound Bus.
Speaking of buses, here they are tracking for “Meet You at the Bus,” among other ditties.
Michael Irwin