SnowGhost Music

Now put yourself in these shoes: You've just left Ted's studio. Despite only knowing how to play three chords on his vintage guitar and refusing to ever play in front of anyone, Ted has ProTools and a studio and plenty of instruments. And while he dreams of one day luring Blonde Redhead into his home studio so he can help make the greatest record of 2009, he is happy allowing his actual musician friends to use his stuff in the meantime. Which is exactly what you've been doing for the past week, and now you've got an album's worth of songs to do something with, including one track which Ted considers to be, "revolutionary- maybe the best song not by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah since 2005."

You are also a relatively obscure art... read more >

Put yourself in these shoes: You've just left Ted's house. Ted is not just any friend. Ted is the guy who has European EPs on vinyl of bands that only existed for 2 weeks, has tickets to the show that the venue doesn't even know about yet, and has a lifelong to subscription to Rolling Stone, yet he loathes it for never containing any information that he didn't already know. You wonder, if Ted loves music so fanatically, why hasn't he actually made any of his own? But that's Ted's inner struggle to deal with. You respect Ted's taste and you meet most of the bands you like through Ted. It's people like Ted that keep us from ever having to rely on the radio to hear "new" music, so you're okay with the fact that after playing you a... read more >

As your favorite chain music mega store goes out of business, or your local indie CD shop downsizes their selection to make way for a smoothie booth, an uplifting thing to remember is this: the music industry is not the same thing as the record industry. This is important because, while the record industry is being moved to a convalescent home to spend his final years playing bingo and not receiving visitors, the music industry is buying new clothes and thinking about taking an exciting job in a new city. Or maybe even going back to school for that master's degree.

How did this happen, you ask? Weren't record industry and music industry engaged at some point? Weren't they expecting kids? They certainly were not this grossly mi... read more >

I do not have an iPod. It’s not because I’m old or afraid of them- people twice my age have flashed me their playlists and scoffed at my cd collection. It’s not because I don’t like them. What’s not to like about a device the size of a credit card collection that can play you a random mix of virtually every song you’ve enjoyed over the past few years?

I just happen to really love cds. Always have. I like unwrapping them (not including the spine sticker- we can all agree that they suck), popping out the unplayed disc, and searching through the packaging to see if the liner notes or lyrics or pictures and artwork will satisfy me. I like to read the booklet as I listen to the first track, whether I’m at a stoplight in my ... read more >

Fresh off a series of shows following The Bleeding Edge Festival, The Mumlers were riding the hype at the speed of light. They were in talks with Galaxia Records, home to Tommy Guerrero and Ray Barbee, about signing a record deal. They were going to use their session with me to sweeten the pitch, having nearly a full record in hand. For a few weeks, Will Sprott, songwriter and leader of the band, had kept in touch over the phone to discuss the details of the sessions. It had always been a dream of his to record to two-inch tape, and he wanted to know if I had a tape machine. Of course, I said, and we carried on about the benefits of tape, tubes, and ribbons. You see, there is a club of sorts that is really into the warmth of the recor... read more >