Practice Makes Practice Makes Practice

We had an unusual wed. night practice tonight. Maybe it's because I've been in the space for four nights with Verona Downs and maybe it's because my finger is sliced and it seems that my nails are long and maybe it's because my wrist is acting up in pain and maybe it's because I'm not hearing the Bflat major in the new song and maybe it's because we haven't practiced in a while and perhaps it's because we haven't gigged in a bit and perhaps it's the great scott gig that fell through but I was having a hard time getting into the practice groove thing. I'll feel better soon!

Radio

So the radio is starting to LOVE the Invisible Rays. Just kidding!!! ZBC has played the rays a couple of times, so that's nice. I heard Tracy play Sampler Science on the local show the other day, but it sounded so weird and foreign and in need of fixing! In a quick search I've found that Sampler Science has been played three times and Don't Run has been played once. I thought I heard that Fete Fatale was also played, but that's not showing up on the Spinitron records, so maybe eric meant Don't Run. The band will be playing at Mass Art on april 25th. I should update the web site to indicate that, and it look like we'll be playing the famous pig roast at sunshine studio also. That's going to be a blast!

New Works Revisited

I've updated some of the files on the new works page. Much has changed in my life since my last post. My mother passed away and I'm largely unemployed, as is Ned. But I hope to have an EP out fairly soon of this new stuff. The Rays have also begun pre production for the next project. It's ok. In case you can't find the new stuff, it's here.

NewWorks

Hey kids - check out RafiLabs for a sneak preview. It's not new Invisible Rays stuff, but it's what I've been doing when the Rays miss rehearsals. And, since I thought no one ever came to this page, I had thought it was safe enough to post unfinished works.... (Nightsweatfever proved me wrong on that count, though.)

The Rays by have now missed at least two rehearsals either because of the weather or because of my schedule. Next on our agenda is some recording... That's because we're both ready to try some new tricks and because we seem to not have any gigs lined up.

PYGA Reviews

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 29 2005


Ned says we've sold some 20 copies of PYGA online. Here's some of the feedback about Put Your Gun Away.

Badassmospheric rock that your friends haven't heard yet
Reviewer: Justin A.
Admittedly, even the website is badass - and the album deserves it. The opener track "Fete Fatale" gave me an idea of what it could sound like if Sonic Youth, Portishead or maybe even My Bloody Valentine ever tried to soundtrack a Philip K Dick novel or redo the music for Patrick McGoohan's spy/mindf*** show "The Prisoner". The rest of the album is similarly evocative, with a compelling signature sound.

Great album!
Reviewer: XXX
with this C.D. your life is less worthless

From CD Baby
Three minute pop rock instrumentals. That’s right. With so many instrumental rockers concerned with the extended jam, The Invisible Rays ask the following: why make a song ten minutes long when you can make it in three and make it rock? The textured instrumental expanses (created by guitars, bass, drums, well-placed samples, and electronic elements) serve as musical building blocks while the actual songs swoon, hum, and buzz with some catchy pop prowess. While there are hints at Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, and Calexico, this record does stand alone; it is instantly appealing, and there’s plenty for you guitar geeks to dissect over the long term.

From The Noise - by Joe Coughlin
There's a special place in heaven for all-instrumental bands who can really pull it off, 'cause there's about a dozen if we're lucky. Except now it's 13. This is trotted out as "an imaginary spy film soundtrack," but it would work just as beautifully if they'd titled it "Steaming Pile Of Dung." What sets these forward thinkers ahead is the sheer variety of moods they're willing to take on. I mean, let's face it, The Ventures and Los Straitjackets are all good fun, but they don't exactly run ya through the emotional gamut. There's playful, pensive, sinister, spacey, and much more here, and not a note of it feels forced. Plus, it says they largely wrote it as they recorded, which hints at some massive possibilities for their future. The overall organic wash of this is far greater than the sum of its considerable riffs and soundbites, resulting in a grand head-trip of the finest order. I seriously can't wait to hear it in a moving car. Or for their next one. My only advice would be to bag the motifs next time, because some people are actually dumb enough to only hear what you tell them they're hearing. Just do your thing, because it happens to be extremely damn cool and necessary right about now.

Order your own copy of Put Your Gun Away at Cd Baby.


This is a review from Serge Entertainment Group, which I guess is out of Georgia.

Instrumental alt rock is very rare and Boston’s The Invisible Rays may be one of the most talented purveyors of this unique genre. With influences twisting from Midwestern punk of the Husker Du vein, to artsy melodies ala B-52’s and Devo, the music is still highly original and intellectual. More guitar personalities than Sybyl, eerie keyboard backdrops, tasty sampling garnishes and intricate but solid rhythms dominate this captivating CD.

LIVE SHOWS:

Opening for Kinski at TT's in August by Steve Gisselbrecht

The first thing I see of The Invisible Rays, who are playing when I enter TT's, is the huge bank of synthesizers that they're triggering samples from, and I'm nervous. This doesn't seem like my kind of thing, necessarily. But as I round the corner, I start to take in the really excellent drummer, the solid and melodic bassist, and the squealing, tragically undermixed guitar player. Plus the projection behind them, an oscilloscope trace of the output from the synth setup, which proves a suprisingly entrancing visual accompaniment to their set. The samples provide a lot of weird snippets of speech, mostly on the topic of synthesizers and sampling when I can make them out—it's all very recursive—and since there are otherwise no vocals, it's kind of nice to have that thrown into the mix. My own focus is on the rhythms, which are complicated and beautiful, with lots of good odd-time stuff that gets me dancing. A very pleasant surprise overall. Also pleasantly surprising is the respectable crowd here for the first band on a Tuesday night.

Possible Titles

Akathisia - Motor impatience
Palilalia - A speech defect marked by abnormal repetition of syllables, words, or phrases. Also: a pathological condition in which a word is rapidly and involuntarily repeated
Echolalia - The often pathological repetition of what is said by other people as if echoing them
Echopraxia - The involuntary imitation of movements made by another. Also called echomotism

12:21:04:ZuZus

I think we redeemed ourselves from the Midway Fiasco with our subtle and stealthy show at ZuZu's this fine evening. We were medium tight but there were no "obvious" fuckups and I think we all felt fairly comfortable together on "stage," not that there is one to speak of at the joint.... I don't think any pictures were taken or that the event was documented in any way. Oh yeah, I made a great flier. I guess that's worth something.... Here it is:


The very cool unicorn is courtesy of Mike Langlie, master mind of Twink.

Don't Run

This song ended up as track two on Put Your Gun Away, and I can't remember why. It was originally a sketch that I recorded onto my 1/2" eight track at the old Segue space using Ned's drums, ron's bass, and dan's crappy casio keyboard. It even had a vocal section ("...Run...Don't..."). It was derived from an open tuning song I had written in New Orleans about old friends changing to the point where they become different people (spiral into addiction plays a big part in the transformation). I think this track was possibly the most difficult to get just right for this project. It actually appears in another incarnation towards the end of the record as Run. More on that later.
Don't Run was recorded initially in my bathroom on Bragdon St. (aka Blue Room Brain). Ned played the snare drum in there, and I both close mic'd it and distance mic'd it from the shower curtain. I recorded some dobro and numerous unplugged electric guitar tracks, all in the bathroom. Just assimilating those elements into coherent tracks was time consuming, because the song really had and still has no structure to speak of. I think this was early in my learning curve in terms of figuring out how to compose and edit my own performances using pro tools. It's a fine display of the ABAB:|| phenomenon that we are so often guilty of...
Bass soon followed; but since Don't Run was made at home from scratch using pro tools, it had a grid and thus the bass is heavily looped and sequenced. Oh, that's also because I played it, and I'm a crappy bass player:)
For samples, I pulled some stuff from Roger and Me. Initially I used the rabbit lady, but we decided that sample was too cliche. We ended up with the deputy sheriff guy who evicts people; he has great cadence in his delivery. He's very melancholy, and if you think of eviction in the context of the title of the song maybe you'd have some sort of narrative there. Also guesting towards the end of the song is Roger himself talking at a workers Xmass meeting or something ("In the hopes that nature will accommodate our longing for a Total Experience"). Now he's a slimy fuck! I kept other samples around from that movie that have made appearances in unpublished Ray Loops, such as Wouldn't It Be Nice.
Since the track kicked around for so long without us feeling as though it was properly completed, it endured many overdubs. A few things stuck; kick and floor tom were recorded using dan's weird old cocktail kit, but we did that in our new practice space on Brookside. Those tracks are woefully out of phase... Also at the Brookside space (Sunshine Studio) we recorded some electric guitar through the Cordovox rotating speaker cabinet. A highlight of the recordings on this track was the invention of the Voice Changer Toy inside the Coffee Can effect, which is the feedback sound that dominates the intro of the song. While this sound continues to amuse my clients to no end, I have yet to have recorded it on anything else! Also added at Blue Room Brain is the little static guitar amp noise heard at the very beginning of the song, which corresponds to the dobro part. I spent quite a few minutes on that little nothing!
At some point I was so frustrated with the song that we tried recording the track again at another session at the barn, with JD and I both playing along with Ned. I played guitar while I think JD played bass. JD took those recordings home and messed with them using his digital recorder. Those recordings resulted in the track Run. They also provided us with a great synth line that we had JD perform onto the final version.