web log 07 (151-175)

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Volume 7

Posts 151-175

Tuesday, January 22, 2008to

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

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This Day in Studio History

Back in 1994, Jason wrote the music for a promotional video for a local companycalled Lefton Productions that rented carnival games and supplies.

It was on January 22 that the song was recorded. The following day Jason took it

to a co-worker, whose wife worked at Lefton Productions. The video was then

edited on January 27 and Jason received his copy of the tape on January 28.

This was the first time he made money on his music.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 7:43 PM 2 comments

Labels: This Day in History

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Musician Profile #5: Paige W

At age 4, Paige is by far the youngest artist that works with the Studio. And hermusic career has just begun.

In August of 2007 her first album was released, titled My First Album. Since that

release she has had a recording session once a month to record songs which will be

on her second album due out this fall.

She has also been learning to play the piano. Her lessons started a few months ago

and they will continue as long as she shows interest.

We are looking forward to many years of music from Paige.

Next week: Brad P

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 6:43 AM 0 comments

Labels: Musician Profile

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Blog News: Sidebar Player

The Studio is proud to announce a new feature to the Metal XOR Studio Blog... theListen Online! Music Player located in the sidebar on the right side of the page.

This is a collection of the songs that have been written about in the Listen Online!

feature over the last few months. You simply click on "Choose Your Song Here" and

select the song you want to hear from the drop-down menu. It may take a moment

to load the song. The [play] button will turn black when the song is ready to be

played. Then just click [play].

As new Listen Online! features are written, those songs will be added to the

player.


Labels: Blog News

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Listen Online!

"Of Plants and Machinery

"

These are the first sounds of the new ORC album made available to the public.

This song was recorded during the first joint recording session on January 19.

New lyrics have already been written and the song will receive further attention in

the coming weeks.

Click here to listen to the song.


Labels: Listen Online

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Album of the Week #23: Sleep State F

Project name: Mune MudAlbum name: Sleep State F

Release date: September 23, 1997

Release format: cassette

Studio name: Metal XOR Studio

Tracks:1. Waxed

2. Ginkgo Biloba

3. Reflection

4. Occam's Razor

5. Locker Life

6. Contact

7. Before (Again)

8. Sleeping with the Fishes

9. Last Five Miles

10. Dofuzia

11. Molybdenum

12. Clouds Set Free (Silent Cumulus Mix)

13. Overfed

14. The Phantom Funeral

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15. Dolphins and a Seahorse

16. Biobot

17. Just Denied

18. Etesian Wind (Denny's Mix)

19. Prospecting Saturn

This album had a couple of alternate titles before Sleep State Fwas decided on. It

was almost called Equation of Time II(since many of the songs were left over from

the Equation of Timealbum) or Equitation of Python.

"It was observed that sleep could be divided into six distinct typed or levels. These

are labelled A, B, C, D, E, and F, and each night we progress from sleep state A to

sleep state F. It is in the level of sleep labelled F that unusually rapid eye

movements (REM), under closed eyelids, were noticed." This comes from The

Dreamer's Workbook, a book that sits on the Studio bookshelf. Since Jason has

always had a fascination with dreams, he named the album after the REM sleep

cycle (not to mention R.E.M. is his favorite band).

This album came with a 3.5" floppy disk called Chimera. On the disk was

information regarding the album, including lyrics.

The front of the album cover sported a sticker that said "Basis of A Dream Journal".

To expand on the idea of dreams, Jason was going to release a book of short

stories as a companion to the album, with each story being based on a song from

the album. But this project was never started.

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Another project that never saw completion was a compilation of music videos from

the album. The only video that was filmed was for "Molybdenum".

Much of this album was an homage back to Mune Mud's 1991 album Olympusin the

fact that only the equipment used for Olympuswas used on this album. Jason was

getting back to basics.

The only guest musician was Jason's dad who provided the sample of him saying

"42" for the song "Molybdenum".

Next week's Album of the Week: The Search for Metropolisby Mune Mud from

2001.


Labels: Album of the Week

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ORC Update: Week 4

This feature will be posted every Monday to document the weekly progress ofthe newORC album at Metal XOR Studio.

This week illness tore through the Studio and the house it occupies. Although there

was a lot of time to work on music, it was the last thing on the sick peoples' minds.

But still, there was a little progress.

Song 01 - "Silver Sphere"

In the first session for this song a new arrangement was made as decided in the

first ORC recording session. In the second session this week a "Lyric Splice" mix was

created using clips from the first ORC session. This will be used to help finish the

final lyrics.

Song 11 - "Of Plants and Machinery"

The first version of this song was recorded during ORC session 1, but the lyrics

were actually being read from a book. This week a new set of lyrics were written

to accompany the great music. It is planned to record the new lyrics at the next

ORC session.

Song 12 - untitled

This fast-paced song was started but it didn't get too far. Time will tell if anything

comes of it.

And here's to a healthy upcoming week. . .


Labels: ORC Update

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Musician Profile #6: Brad P

Brad was a drummer by trade. And Phil Collins of Genesis was the drummer Bradwanted to be. It was in high school, when Harry and Jason were learning to play

synthesizers and guitars, that Brad the Drummer was discovered.

He was the drummer for the band Pheonix starting around 1986. That lasted a

couple of years.

In early 1989, he was the drummer for the high school 50's & 60's band The

Traveling Deengelburys. Later that year, after high school graduation, Brad moved

away to college.

It was around 1990-1991 when he returned to town and stopped by Metal XOR

Studio. The Studio was enjoying its new drum machine and 4-track recorder. Songs

for the Mune Mud album Olympuswere being recorded. It was the Golden Era of

the Studio. Brad contributed by programming a few drum patterns that would be

used. He also recorded vocals for a couple of unused songs during the Olympus

era.

Of those associated with the Studio, Brad was the only one that had a personal

computer. So Jason had Brad design the album cover for Mune Mud's 1992

Underwater Problem Factory.

Also during this period (1991-1993) Harry, Jason, and Brad played together again as

The Spartans in garages and a couple of parties. Brad was still the drummer.

In 1993 Brad moved away again but left his drums in Harry's garage. So when

Isthmus was created in 1995, Brad's drums were used. In fact, they were used

throughout the entire Isthmus career.

It has been 15 years and Brad has yet to be heard from.

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Next week: Darrin R



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Just For Fun #6

Metal XOR Studio is not one to sue every time one of its songs is copied,plagiarized, or just plain ripped-off. But there was an incident in 1995 that could

have warranted it.

The story starts back in 1986 when Jason started recording his own songs with his

first keyboard. On his fourth tape, titled Quadraphonic, was a song that had been

recorded in 1987. It remained nameless along with most of the songs on that tape

until January 1, 2004, when the songs were finally given titles. This nameless song

was then titled "Coeur de Coward". Why such a weird name? Because it was the

pseudo-French opposite of the words brave and heart.

Fast forward to 1995 when the Mel Gibson epic "Braveheart" came out in movie

theaters. Jason and Jimmy went to see it (several times) and it quickly ranked in

their top 5 movies of all time. During the movie Jason recalls "...something was

familiar to me as I watched the film... it finally occured to me that I had recorded

this Braveheart song eight years prior!"

There is a slight difference in the two songs, but that is probably becausecomposer James Horner changed "Braveheart" slightly so it would not be a direct

copy of Jason's song. Most people will be able to hear how similar the two songs

are. Give a listen to each song and make your own determination as to whether

Mel and James owe Jason a few greenbacks or not.

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Click here to listen to Jason's song (unmodified recording from 1987).

Click here to listen to a "Braveheart" song (from 1995).


Labels: Just for Fun

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State of the Studio #6: February '08

The biggest news coming from the Studio this month is the recording of the newORC album. Recording actually began on December 31 and will continue for at

least another month. Highlights of the recording thus far:

First Metal XOR Studio recording session for the album - December 31, 2007

New Eclectic Musicianmagazine interview scheduled for March 2008 issue

First joint recording session for the album - January 19, 2008

You can monitor the progress of Metal XOR Studio's contribution to the album by

checking here every Monday for the ORC Update feature.

As far as plans for February, it looks to be much of the same... more ORC

recording.

Using the same audio player used for the new Listen Online! Music Player, there

are plans to eventually start posting entire Metal XOR Studio albums online that

would allow you to select which track to stream. But this project will not be

started until the ORC album is finished.

Another recording session for Paige's second album is also scheduled for February.

And that is all for now. Next report in 29 days!!!


Labels: State of the Studio

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Album of the Week #24: The Search for Metropolis

Project name: Mune MudAlbum name: The Search for Metropolis

Release date: November 6, 2001

Release format: CD


Tracks:

1. I'm Friendly When Asleep

2. From Cousin B

3. The Theme from Eight Concepts

4. Dreaming the Sky

5. Encounter

6. It's All Right

7. A Thousand Words

8. Urban Gaxiola

9. Battlefield: Tycho10. Ageless

11. Cambrian Explosion

12. Red Ray

13. Ocean Body

14. Jealous Circle

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15. Market Connections

16. 100,000 Punctuated Breaths

17. Frozen Pipes

It had been four years since the previous Mune Mud album release (Sleep State F

from 1997). And the music was now more polished and better produced than ever.

And part of that was the fact that this was the first Mune Mud album released on

CD.

It was crunch-time, the album was nearing completion and it still needed a title.

For some reason it was difficult to name this album. Jason had been looking for

ideas for weeks. One day he was at his dad's house. His dad was talking about the

old Superman TV show that he watched over and over. He went on to say how we

was taking clues from various episodes to try to figure out where Metropolis was

supposed to be located. Then the album title hit Jason like a speeding

locomotive... the search for Metropolis!

The album cover sported a painting by one of Jason's long-time inspirations,

Salvador Dali. Dali had inspired a few songs by Jason back in the early to mid 90's.

The reason this particular painting was chosen is because it was what Jason based

his song "Suburb of a PCT" on, which is the unlisted "hidden" track on The Search

for Metropolis(it is tacked on at the end of the last track, "Frozen Pipes"). The

inside of the album cover was a collage of images and lyrics from the album (see

image below).

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This collection of songs was a lot more upbeat and positive than many previous

albums. Since Sleep State F, many changes had occured in Jason's life. He had

started dating his future wife, whom he married in 2000. He had bought his first

house and moved the Studio once again. And the first Star Wars prequel movie had

been released. It was a period of new beginnings.

There was a publicity poster created for the album on Saturday, August 4, 2001.

There were a few hard copies posted, but it had more distribution as an email to

Metal XOR Studio fans. The poster showed the same piece of Dali art as was on the

album cover with a list of the songs underneath (in alphabetical order).

Next week's Album of the Week: Hobson's Choiceby Mune Mud from 2004.



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ORC Update: Week 5


The Studio is slowly gathering steam, building its way up to pre-illness speed. But

even as the illness fades there has been a separate project underway at the

Studio. That project is drawing to a close, so this week (or definitely by next

week) total focus will be back on the ORC album. But this week wasn't a total

waste, here is the small amount of progress that was made.

Song 13 - "Brave Machine"

There were two sessions involving this song this week. The first was to create the

basic idea. A short demo was made and sent to Attic Works Studio. The second

session extended the song and added new parts. It's in a more complete state now.

A second demo was recorded to be used for lyric-writing. The song title is just a

working title, it will probably change. The song itself has been called an Italian

pop song, so you can let your imagine take you where it will.

I'll update with more news in one week. . .


Labels: ORC Update

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Musician Profile #7: Darrin R

Darrin has been a friend of the Studio almost longer than anyone else. He andJason wrote their first song, "Fatty Fatty 2x4", in grade school. Darrin provided the

lyrics and Jason played the piano part.

But it wasn't until 1988 or 1989 that Darrin and Jason rekindled the magic. They

would "cruise around town" and sing along with songs on the radio, making up their

own lyrics. It wasn't long before Jason started taking his tape recorder with him

when they cruised. They recorded a few tapes of their singing. Near the end of this

short music career, Jason put together a tape called "The Best of Darrin and Jason"

which included their favorite songs. The tape was never an "official" album

release, just something made for Darrin and Jason to hear.

Darrin also made appearances with other projects through the years. He was part

of a few Two-Tones recording sessions. He was the saxophone player for the

Traveling Deengelburys. And he recorded a few songs with Mune Mud (providing

lyrics and some drums). One of his songs with Mune Mud appeared on the 1994

Binary Pipedreamalbum.

With his hectic schedule he has not been a part of the Studio's music for quite

some time. He is always welcome to contribute but chances are Darrin's days at

Metal XOR Studio are over.

Next week: Joe B



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Collector's Corner #23

This was the publicity poster released on Saturday, August 4, 2001 for the MuneMud album The Search for Metropoliswhich was released on November 6 of that

same year.

Although there were only a few hard copies of the poster created (this being the

only one on colored stock), an email was sent on that Saturday to all the Metal

XOR Studio fans to alert them of the upcoming album release.

The poster today resides in the Rare Poster Wing of the Metal XOR Studio.


Labels: Collector's Corner

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Album of the Week #25: Hobson's Choice

Project name: Mune MudAlbum name: Hobson's Choice

Release date: November 23, 2004

Release format: CD


Tracks:1. Tracing Aristotle

2. Arabian Sugar Cookies

3. She Walked to the Fair

4. In Search of...

5. Hollyhock and Tansy

6. Goh Mifune

7. Puffing Billy

8. All Things Wonderful

9. Little Light

10. Mr. Carpenter

11. Ouatoga

12. Wormwood

13. Two in Space

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This album is basically a collection of unused tracks from 2004's Hobson's Choice

album. They were unreleased songs, demos, and alternate takes.

The problem with this album was that the packaging was never done. The music

was complete and the CD's ready for duplication, but due to a union strike in

Warrenton, Maryland, the album was not finished. So there is no official release

date other than the year '2005'.

Two of the songs featured guest musicians. "I Don't Know Your Name" had Nikki

singing background vocals with Jason singing the main vocals. And "The Fire Made

Heat" was a song written and sung by Nikki's brother, Clint.

Many of these songs could have easily been part of Hobson's Choicebut there just

was not enough room on one CD, so they were left off. And to share them with the

fans this album was to be created.

Some day the printers will be fired back up and the album will finally be finished.

But for now it remains held within the red tape of beaurocracy, struggling to be

freed.

Next week's Album of the Week: Singles Collectionby Mune Mud from 2004.



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ORC Update: Week 7


There was only one recording session this week do to various reasons. Lyrics were

written for a song. The song will either be one whose music has been started

already that has no lyrics yet or they will be for an entirely new song. There's no

title for the lyrics yet, so they are still in their very early stages.

Hopefully this week will be more productive. Watch for the next update in 7 days.

. .


Labels: ORC Update

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Interview

For more than a decade the fictitious magazine Eclectic Musicianhas been theexclusive publication to feature Metal XOR Studio. It has now published its

fourth interview with the Studio in its March 2008 issue.

The fourth interview mainly focuses on the upcoming ORC album. The Studio blog

site and associated websites are briefly mentioned. Also discussed are other music

projects that are in the works or will be soon. Enjoy the read.


Labels: Interviews

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Album of the Week #27: Singles Collection

Project name: Mune MudAlbum name: Singles Collection

Release date: 2004

Release format: CD


Tracks:

1. Etesian Wind

2. Etesian Wind (original speed)

3. Waterfall

4. Mystical Dream

5. Gridlock

6. EnVenum Above (original)

7. Believe Me

8. Garden of Hesperides

9. Reality Found Me

10. Ominous (remake)

11. Clouds Set Free12. Up A Lonely Road (original)

13. Summer Song

14. Winter Song

15. One Night (v2.0)

16. One Night (v1.0)

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17. Ginkgo Biloba

18. Little Germany

19. Reflection

20. One Second

21. From Cousin B

22. Camilla

23. Ocean Body

24. Ocean Body (demo)

This article from last October gives a good explanation of Mune Mud singles that

have been released over the years. Basically it explains that there are two singles

from every Mune Mud album from Olympusto The Search for Metropolis. And on

each single is the song from the album plus an additional unreleased song, usually

a demo or alternate version.

This compilation collected all of the singles onto one album. The singles

themselves are very rare and this gave the public a chance to hear some rare b-

side songs.

But as with Hobson's Second Choicethe following year, there were issues that

prevented this album from being totally completed. The duplication factory was

hit by a tornado and all copies of the album were destroyed. Therefore the album

was never officially released, but it still retains its 2004 release year.

One day the album will have a re-release so the public can finally hear it. But until

then it remains one of the "lost" albums of the Studio.

Next week's Album of the Week: Heimlich Maneuverby the Two-Tones from 1989.

Posted by -Mune Mud

- at 1:26 PM 0 commentsLabels: Album of the Week

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ORC Update: Week 8

This feature was posted every Monday to document the weekly progress ofthe newORC album at Metal XOR Studio.

Due to various reasons there were no ORC sessions at Metal XOR Studio this week.

And since the album will not hit the original target release date of March 1, there

are changes being made in the production schedule. Watch for an upcoming post

regarding this matter.

As far as this weekly feature goes, this will be the last one for a while. Certainly

when big ORC news comes out it will be posted on this blog, but these small

weekly updates will now go away.

See you sometime in the future for the next update. . .


Labels: ORC Update

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Musician Profile #10: Mark S

Mark S entered the scene in the fall of 1988, the beginning of Jason's senior year inhigh school. He was Jason's Spanish teacher. And the musical connection came on

Friday, October 28, when Mark walked over to his desk, pulled out an acoustic

guitar, and started playing "Groovy Kind of Love". Jason had never seen a teacher

do that before!

It was known that Jason and Harry played around with music, especially in their

bands Pheonix and The Two-Tones. So when Christmas arrived it was decided that

Mark, Harry, and Jason would play a short set of five songs during one of the class

periods. On Wednesday, December 21, they performed in front of what seemed

like half the school, all crammed into one classroom.

Early in 1989 Harry and Jason teamed with Mark again for a new musical endeavor,

the Traveling Deengelburys. This was a 50's and 60's band they created to play at a

fund-raiser dance on March 31, 1989. Mark was one of the lead singers and also

played bass guitar. He brought the selection of music and taught the other six

band members how to play the songs. After the successful show, they suggested a

ten-year reunion to play once again in 1999. But the reunion never happened.

But now contact has been re-established with Mark and there will be a Traveling

Deengelbury reunion of sorts this spring, consisting of four of the band members.

No music is planned, just a reliving of past memories.



Copyright 2008 Metal XOR Studio

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