SPIRIT SPINE

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Album Update

I've been putting together the physical copies over the last few days and am listening to what will probably be the final version of the album master right now. Here are all the albums in a box! They still need cds and liner notes, but on the outside I think they look nice!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

"GLOSSOLALIA" Press Release

Large Hi-Res Album Cover Art: http://tinyurl.com/GlossolaliaAlbumCover

Glossolalia by Spirit Spine

Lovegiraffe Records LG04-1

After a year of writing and recording in his bedroom and his parents' basement, Spirit Spine (the recording name of Indiana-native Joseph Denney) returns with his third album, Glossolalia. Meaning "the religious practice of speaking in tongues," Glossolalia leaves behind the synths and samplers of previous albums in order to craft the soundtrack to an imaginary desert epic.

The album follows the story of a preacher traveling by airplane who crashes into the desert, leaving him the only survivor. As a result, the preacher must wander the desert in search of food, water, and civilization. Along the way he questions the religion that brought him there and the God who may, or may not, exist.

Dedicated to famed skeptic and magician James Randi, Glossolalia wraps the listener in a heat-warped haze of bending guitars, hypnotic drumming and chant-like vocals that draws on influences like Grouper, My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska", and the Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk Music. Because of the new sonic and thematic territory explored by Glossolalia, one may have to resort to made-up pseudogenres like Desert Dub, Sandgaze, or Heatwave in order to describe Denney's new album.

Glossolalia was expertly mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk of Stereophonic Sound (Grouper, Nite Jewel, The Antlers).

Tracklisting:

1. Gauze

2. Ocean of Sand

3. Mission Bells

4. Ritualistic

5. Thirst

6. Hunger

7. Fennec Fox

8. Ascension

9. Sorro

Recorded Aug. 2010 to November 2010

Released January 21st, 2011 digitally and

as a special edition CD limited to 100 copies on Bandcamp.

Released February 1st, 2011 on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc.

Large Hi-Res Album Cover Art:

http://tinyurl.com/GlossolaliaAlbumCover

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Spirit Tape Se7en

Spirit Tape Se7en by Spirit Spine on Mixcloud

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?ip2o38em1dd5sv2

For some reason I picked a lot of female artists. I think female voices sound better than male voices, but sometimes girls can get lazy and fall into that cutesy indie-girl vocal style. I wish I could switch between having a male singing voice and a female singing voice. There's one song on the album that would really benefit from that. I'd do choir-y vocals with it. Anyway, now here's the tracklist:

1. Visionaire #53 by Panda Bear

2. Dancing With Friends by Julianna Barwick

3. I'll Keep It With Mine by Nico

4. Things I Did When I Was Dead by No Age

5. The Warrior by Honey Ltd.

6. Some Things Cosmic by Angel Olsen

7. Microrangers by CVLTS

8. Her Sinking Sun by Coma Cinema

9. The New Sane Scramble by Jana Hunter

10. A Cover Over by Grouper

The Julianna Barwick song is probably one of my favorite songs. I remember listening to that over and over when I drove to my internship 45 minutes away during the summer and singing words I made up to it. I tried recreating a similar song to put on the album, but I just don't have the magic that Julianna does. I saw Jana Hunter's band Lower Dens a few nights ago and they were really awesome. See them if you get the chance. There's another song she does called "Laughing and Crying" that's also great. Anything by Grouper is a winner. I think Angel Olsen is one of my favorite artists I've found this year and I hope she puts out an album sometime soon. She's really talented.

Recording the album is going by pretty good. I've got three more songs to finish that are already in various stages of completion. It's taken a little longer because I scrapped one of the songs and started writing a completely new and different track. I'll post the album art and a tracklist soon. Like within the next week.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Spirit Tape 666! (no, just 6...)

Spirit Tape 666 by Spirit Spine on Mixcloud

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?uaplm0mcoc265gp

1. Surf Surround by The White Shark

2. Transmitting Live From Mars by De La Soul

3. Busy Signal by Dolly Parton

4. Blessa (Daytrotter Mix) by Toro Y Moi

5. All Apologies (MTV Unplugged) by Nirvana

6. Lay Lay Off, Faselam by Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan

7. Echo's Answer by Broadcast

8. Dawn Chorus by Boards of Canada

9. Silent Night by Metallic Falcons

10. Israeli Blue by The Index

11. Tremors by Kruxe

Finally! A new mixtape. I'm not really sure why this one took so long, but it's here so that's nice. I think this is the most cohesive mix I've made so far, but it may just be because I just finished it and like it more than the rest of them.

I really wish Dolly Parton had done more girl group style stuff like she does in Busy Signal. I added a little bit of reverb and echo to the Toro Y Moi song to make it blend a little bit better with the rest of the songs. Lay Lay Off, Faselam is a super sweet song that I'd like to try and cover sometime during a show. It's really cool how it's so sparse but carries the way it does. Broadcast is a group that I've been listening to for the past 3 months or so. I just bought their collaboration with the Focus Group and it sounds like the psychedlic 60's version of J Dilla's Donuts or Madvillainy the way there's a bunch of short songs that pretty much make up one big flowing album.

The third album is coming along slowly but surely. All of the instruments are recorded for all of the songs and the vocals are recorded for some. I'm mostly just mixing the album right now; getting levels right, adding and adjusting echo and reverb. There's one set of samples I want to add to one of the songs, but I need some of my vinyl records which are at my house so I'll have to get those sometime (in October?). I can tell you now that there will be 9 tracks and most of the songs will be kinda long (not like 10 minutes long, but more than 4 minutes). It should be all done by the time the 10th mixtape comes out.

If any labels want to inquire about releasing it, go ahead and send me an email (spiritspine@gmail.com). A limited vinyl release would be sweet (but probably costly).

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Spirit Tape Five

Spirit Tape Five by Spirit Spine on Mixcloud

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?nwzmodlxjoo

1. Frip Job by Kurt Vile

2. Greenback Dollar by Kingston Trio
3. Vick's Medicated Cough Drops by Raymond Scott
4. Pimeankarkelo by Paavoharju
5. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
6. Leaf House by Animal Collective
7. Summer Majestic by His Clancyness
8. Blackberry Song by Kurt Vile
9. Red Ford Radio by U.S. Girls
10. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
11. Worrywort by Radiohead (This might be my favorite Radiohead song)
12. Horn (Spirit Spine's Tape Remix) by Nick Drake

The Nick Drake track is supposed to sound like a Brian Eno tape experiment. The beginning of it comes from some "wolf sounds" album I have. This is one of my favorite mixes that I've made, another being the first mix.