What It Ain't

We hear there's an election coming up.  And that there was a hurricane.  

For the producer, there are no events.  Unless it is audio, and steadily improving from sucky to acceptable.  

After the burst of energy bringing The Milkshake Boom-inspired "Encouragement Clown Outtakes" to the world, Isaac and Horace simply kept on working.  Noodling, mostly.  When they were around.  

But the producer, liking the business of producing stuff, dug through old audio sessions, looking for "likely candidates".  Sessions from 2014, 2015, and the spring of this year.  Lots of them, hundreds.  Out of that pile, he found 20.  

And when the brothers were next in the studio, he loaded some of the files for their opinion.  Some were scorned.  But some were taken, munged, and mangled beyond recognizition.  And with this approach, the producer ended up with the tracks of a new LP.  

The title is a basterdization (or is it bastardization?) of the Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem "Art and Heart", insisted upon by the producer, who felt it was time to "take off the kid gloves" and "lead more actively" - which means he is now a domineering jerk.  The reference will be explained in a later post - once the producer is in an emotional state that is conducive to anything other than bellowing and scowling.

On a more positive note, we're ecstatic to report that the producer managed to convince the AWESOME Panic Surfer to contribute to one of the tracks ("Don't Hold Back").  We'll have more details on that collaboration later.

Release date is tentatively scheduled for 10/26/16, just in time for Halloween. 

Candy?  We'll see.  

BOOM brings the Encouragment Clown

Now that their legal status has reached a sort of stasis (albeit temporarily), the brothers have access to their musical accouterments once again, and so have been re-acclimating themselves with their old ways in the studio.

And, to our utter amazement, the good folks at The Milkshake Boom asked for some music cues for their latest production, "The Encouragement Clown" (still in the throes of post-production at the time of this post).

Though unaware that they did productions, the producer is quite familiar with The Milkshake Boom - it is one of the most popular movie-based podcasts around.

He quickly got the brothers working on the rough cut of the (hysterical) short, then got the lawyers working on contingencies.  (Experience has taught us to prepare for clients becoming aware of the brothers' "troubles".)

In a rare burst of productivity - brought about by either the forced hiatus from the studio or the inspiring nature of the short - the brothers generated a slew of work, some of which could not be used for one reason or another.  The producer, fearing that the uncharacteristic production boom might go unused, decided to release the cuts "to the wild", "just to show we're still viable" he said (in a very bitter tone that is difficult to convey here).

So it is with great pleasure that we announce that Friday, July 1, 2016, look for "Encouragement Clown Outtakes" on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

Free for the downloading.  Woot.

Releasing Limbo

We thought long and hard, but alas - no witticisms came to mind about this topic:  A release date has been set for Limbo:  

3/24/14

That's a Monday, so...  Well, don't set your alarm clock.  We'll wait for you to get up.

And along with that hardened, post-SXSW date, comes the cover: 

The track list is likeuntoso:

1.  The Foremost Circle 
2.  Head Down
3.  Wandering Through
4.  (I'll Be Your) Happy Camper
5.  Walk the Talk
6.  Limbo
7.  Catz
8.  Canto 4 
9.  On Our Way (To Who Knows Where)

Lastly, we're extremely pleased to announce that the riveting voice of Cori Samuel is featured on two of those tracks ("The Foremost Circle" and "Canto 4").  Read more about Cori (or better yet, hire her voice) on her website.

Limbo This Way Comes

It's been over 19 months since our last update. Things have been... How to put it? 

The producer wanted to report, in his most enthusiastic voice, that Isaac and Horace have been in the studio these last 19 months, meticulously crafting their next release. That this alleged work is the opus that they've held in check all these many years. That it is a masterpiece, a brilliant work that transcends all musical endeavors to date. That blah blah blah blah blah... 

You get the drift. 

Unfortunately, there are records of a public nature on file in the courthouse at 1000 Guadalupe in downtown Austin. These records can be easily discovered and consulted, and the information they contain blithely wipes away any glittering blather the producer produces. 

So we'll make a clean breast of it and say, in our most diffidently vague manner, that the brothers have been "busy", but that time is past and they have returned to the studio to work on a new release. 

In the process of compiling these new compositions, a common thread has been discovered, which gave stead to the name of this release: Limbo. 

We can understand that association, but No, not that kind of limbo.  This kind:

We suspect it's been inspired by the legal state they found themselves in, but instead we'll insist that it has always been a theme that the brothers have "identified with", and leave it at that.

This new eight (possibly nine) track release features more of the brother's signature danceable electro-pop, and dips a proverbial toe into dramatic orchestrated pieces (obviously emulating Hybrid and Juno Reactor).  ETA is March or April 2014.  

And we're actively discouraging a release date of April Fools' Day.

Music for Discount Miracles

We love Brand Gamblin's stuff. You read his latest, "Discount Miracles"? Good stuff, a nice blend of high brow sci fi and low brow motivations:

The crew of the space salvage ship JNE-0518 (the Jenny) have crashed on a planet that has lost its link to civilization. Surrounded by kingdoms stuck in the dark ages, the crew decides to hire themselves out as wizards, available to make any prophecy come true.

But the latest job goes bad when they find themselves transporting a deified prince. Can the team get away from two different nations before they are caught and burned as royal kidnappers and witches? Even if they can escape the two armies, can they escape the iron grip of prophecy itself?

It's good writing by an artful author, and we were honored that the man tapped the brothers once again for music duties for the Discount Miracles podcast. Cool.

The brothers banged heads on it for a while. And in the end, had managed to conjure up 8 different tracks of varying quality and appropriateness.

The tracks were presented to the author/podcaster. He mulled them over, then selected the last one, 8C. There was much rejoicing - We thought that was the strongest one, too.

And what about the previous 7 tracks? Some were trashed, never to be foisted on human ears again. The remaining were posted on the Downloads and Soundtracks page. You wanna hear them? Go here and hear!

But for a great read, you need to just go ahead and add Discount Miracles to your library:

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Music from Calls for Cthulhu Available!

The brothers visited some dark places in the process, but managed to make the deadline (pun intended).
Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present Music from Calls for Cthulhu!

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We had a blast putting this together, and we must thank (and blame) Brandg.

Calling in Cthulhu!

It can be said that the brothers' biggest (only?) brush with fame has been their loose association with this Brand Gamblin project:



Yep, that's the brother's music you hear in there. Some of it derived from other, more noteworthy antecedents (Modest Mussorgsky, Sheila Cole). But most of it is their own.

Every now and again, some wandering soul would hit up the producer for one of the audio cues. Or present a query about the composition of a particular bit.

The producer kept notes of this. Eventually, he surmised a need to release the C4C efforts to the universe, and so tasked Isaac and Horace on the latest project - The compilation of bits and pieces that the brothers contributed to the Calls for Cthulhu series. MORE than just a compilation, truthfully (the actual words were "make it mo' betta").

So it's with great pride and pleasure that the producer announces the next project: Music from Calls for Cthulhu!

It should be finished 4/30/11. Look for it!