New show scheduled: August 25th, 6-8pm: Dara at Inner Chapters Bookstore and Cafe, 419 Fairview Avenue N., Seattle. It’s two sets, so I’ll be performing a lot of material, including the new song, “World Trapped in Amber”:

Video courtesy Zorp, shot at the Gypsy Cafe

See you there!

I’ve been learning to play melody parts on zouk and mandolin – you might notice the lack of zouk or mandolin solos in the studio album? there’s a reason for that – and I started playing this tune, which I’ve known for forever, and which, in my headcanon, everybody in the world knows.

I’m wondering what it’s called. None of the tune recognition software knows it, and I’ve been asking people and turns out in reality, almost nobody knows it at all! It has an A part and a B part so I thought it was perhaps Irish, and I have it in my head it might be French in some way, but Ellen (whose mom is from Japan) says it sounds Japanese to her.

Here, have a quick recording I just made on my cell phone. Do you know this? If you do, what is it? And is there somewhere that everybody knows this song, or did I just make that part up:

What is this song? Clickie for mp3!

Also, last weekend, I got BONGOS! at a yard sale for cheap and fixed the cracks and refurbished everything else. (I like reclaiming abandoned instruments.) They look like this now:

If I hold them vertically with the smaller drum on top I can play them like some kind of two-tone bodhran, which sounds totally weird but kinda awesome.

Someday I’ll learn to play instruments the correct way. Hopefully not too soon tho’. XD

Finally! I remixed the Cracksman Betty version of “Paddy Murphy,” with new vocals on the first verse and chorus. I like this one better, I think it’s more fun. (Go ahead, you try to sing “O’Leary came with the bagpipes, some music for to play” sober. Can’t be done. BOOST THE ALCOHOL LEVELS TEN! MORE! POINTS!) It’s also a pay-what-you-like download. Enjoy:

I think I’ve really improved as a vocalist – and certainly become more consistent as one – over the last few months.

No time to post Friday, busy. Have a good weekend!

Hello, London! and listeners across the globe on the ARfm live stream! I just heard that one of our tracks, “When You Leave,” is on your station a few times this week, courtesy Paul Baker’s Soundscapes programme! That is so awesome I do not have words for how much awesome is is crammed into that. Hee hee hee hee Cascadian elfmetal bands say HELLO, LONDON! o/

We’re new, so all this is a big deal for us and we’re not being cool and detached about it, not even a little. Fuck that! This is awesome and we’re not afraid to say so. o/

So poke around the site a bit! Click on the Music link above to free-stream our music, including the new studio album Dick Tracy Must Die, the live EP Espionage (Live from Mars), and the ongoing piracy-and-revolution Cracksman Betty project. There’s also a mailing list you can join to get occasional newsletters and free downloads, and you can friend us on Facebook.

If you like what you hear, tell your friends! We don’t have any gigs in the UK yet, but we’d love to change that!

ETA: Bubo G. Gear just messaged telling me I’m between Betsy Tinney and Laura Palmer on his Dementia Radio-hosted Shifting Gears show tomorrow, Tuesday 2 August 2011, at 4pm Cascadian/Pacific! (That’s 9am London, 1pm Eastern. Archive here, if you missed it.) Talk about some good fuckin’ company, what!

Last autumn, at the very start of the Cracksman Betty project, I did a recording of the traditional song “Captain Kidd.” It’s about the eponymous pirate of yore, and full of murder and hangings and other good fun. It was supposed to be the first in the set, but after putting it out for download on the fan list, I decided I really was unhappy with the vocals. So I yanked it back offline, with the intent to redo it as soon as I had the chance.. and never got back ’round to it.

UNTIL NOW! I finally went back and re-recorded the vocals tonight, all extra snarly and piratey. YARRRR! Enjoy, me hearties!

This is completely unrelated to music, I’m afraid. But if you’re wondering what the hell is going on with the US debt crisis, here’s my take. This is also how I tend to write about things not music-related, in my non-music time. There is villainy, tho’. Not supervillainy, so boring, but villainy nonetheless. Enjoy:

Debtordammerung: The US Debt Crisis, in four parts:
Part I: It is tempting, but not fair…
Part II: Why no cuts?
Part III: What happens?
Part IV: But why?

In music news, I’ve figured out a really power-chord-heavy approach to uncapoed Bb major on the zouk for which I am already writing a song just so I can use it. Muah ha ha ha ha ha!

Ah, isn’t that better? Also, I released a live EP last week, Espionage (Live from Mars). It’s a free/pay-what-you-like download, go check it, tell your friends. Don’t worry about paying if you don’t wanna, I mean, who’m I to talk? I just take shit – like a banker, but with more style. XD

MUWAH HA HA HA HA! n/ n/ Take this: Musicians Are Probably Smarter Than The Rest Of Us

Not much new right now; spent Tuesday as an engineer at Criminal Studios (our northern semi-secret lair) recording Leannan Sidhe, who wanted to get down vocals for some new songs she’s working out. It’s weird being on that side of the desk, but fun. ^_^

If you haven’t yet, check the new live EP. Four tracks, free/pay-what-you-like download. Share with your friends! Or your enemies – hell, I don’t care. XD

So I went to the Leannan Sidhe CD release party over the weekend, which featured Katie Tinney as the opening act and, of course, Leannan Sidhe as the primary, and I gotta tell you, it was like some sort of supergroup of Cascadian geek-folk. Betsy Tinney (Tricky Pixie), SJ Tucker, Tony Fabris (Vixy & Tony), Alexander James Adams, Sunnie Larsen, Rob Lindfors? Those guys were in the backup band.

Pictures here, if you’re into that scene. It was lots of fun, and pretty packed, too. They’d hoped to hold the show outside, but weather didn’t cooperate so they set up indoors, which made things kinda tight.

Me, I put out a new quick-release four-song live EP, Espionage (Live from Mars), recorded a week ago at the Mars Bar in Seattle and posted for you here! It’s four songs on three tracks. This kind of project is why I wanted the flexibility of my own race of atomic supermen CD burning robot – I’ll have CDs to sell at shows for like $5 or so. But you! You can download it for whatever you feel like paying, including free! Enjoy:

Free does ask for an email address and I will put you on the fan list. It’s low volume, and you can unsubscribe if you want. So tell your friends!

That’s all I got for now, I have to go yell at some henchmen. Maybe kill a couple of ’em, because somebody clearly needs to be an example. I mean seriously, putting a new roof on your southern lair should not mean more leaks. It should mean none. So, we gotta have some words.

And possibly some heat ray.

Possibly a lot of heat ray.

I love modern tools. Check it: four songs, all live tracks, on the brand-new EP Espionage, including the new song “Coyote,” not previously released in any form! Played last week; released this week. Bitchin’, innit? Enjoy:

It’s pay-what-you-like, so tell your friends!

CRIME and the Forces of Evil have a brief announcement regarding Harley Quinn and the DC comics reboot:

Also, we fully support Shortpacked’s interpretation of this event. We will return to our regularly scheduled villainy shortly. Thank you.

So, hi, I’m back! I didn’t mean to go silent for most of a week; life things happened, like they do, and there’s not much to be done for it.

I want to give a shout-out to the Mars Bar for having me in as part of their Friday lineup last weekend! It was great to meet Natilie and the Pigfeet XD – I hope you’ll want to do it again sometime.

Also, I like your T-shirts:

Ray gun and tentacles – what’s not to like?

I haven’t had time to give a serious listen to the recording I got; the levels are a little problematic but I’m going to see what I can do. I hope I can start some live-track pay-as-you-like downloads with this show, if I can pull the instrumental part of this recording back up. I just wish I had separate instrument and vocal tracks, like I never quite manage to have.

Two experiments, both of which worked:

The POG. I really like what it does for solo amplified mandolin. I’ve got a couple of settings worked out for different degrees of different effects, and it really helps round out the sound. I just wish it also ran on battery or phantom power, like my DIs.

The magnets. I actually sold a magnet! One point to House Supervillainy! XD

Also, I started another song while I was gone. I need to dedicate some time to songwriting. I have a little bit off ’till the next official show, I should make the most of this opportunity.

How was your week?