austin day 3

 

 tobie and huckleberry, her 5-month old australian shepherd. he is crazy cute.

 south congress agave.

upon waking on saturday, rachel and i went to thunderbird coffee just up the street from our little house to meet tobie and catch up. rachel and tobie studied abroad together in aix and she lives in austin, doing a Ph.D program at university of texas. she brought along her new dog, huckleberry, who is super cute and wiggly. he was really excited to be in the coffeeshop and around a legion of adoring customers and kept bark-yelping to express his utter happiness. amanda eventually joined us and the four of us crossed the street to get breakfast tacos at el chilito, which were bangin. post-tacos, we all walked back down 22nd and relaxed in the house for a while, enjoying the sleepy warmth.

after some naps and laziness, chris and i went for a ride down to the atm that turned into a neighborhood tour of the area just north of campus. there are some totally gorgeous places all over this city, and the particular neighborhood we were in was lush, dense southwestern forest. 

after we got back, the four of us piled into the bus and headed to south congress street to walk around, people watch, and eventually eat more food. we stopped at a little food truck park and everyone (save me) ate at a thai truck called "coat and thai." i went to short bus subs and got an amazing hummus and veggie sub that i destroyed only moments after unwrapping it. we walked back down to riverside and caught the 20 back to the venues and saw another night of incredible music.

highlights from the saturday night shows include: prince rama destroying beauty ballroom with some incredibly loud psychedelic dance jams, then coming out on the floor to perform a choreographed dance number. both of them grinded on me and amanda, about which we were really stoked. mmoss played 3 songs, one of which was a 17 minute freakout that was totally hypnotizing. singapore sling was super off-putting at first, then they became incredible, doing jesus and mary chain/velvet underground drone jams while standing completely still. they were super druggy. pure x didn't play any of the songs i wanted to hear, but what they did play was gorgeous. and quilt closed out my night with the best set i've seen them play, totally using the energy of the fest to jam the fuck out. they were spectacular.

more highlights: jamming on a homemade thumb piano while someone i didn't know messed with a bunch of pedals. we created a huge wave of delaying drone in the middle of the vendors area. riding in the taxi back to the house was also fun, as i attempted to have a conversation with an incredibly drunk man that went from fun and pleasant to hilarious and obnoxious. we started out talking about the festival and bands we'd enjoyed. dude mentioned that he was playing, so i asked him what band. he replied, "have you ever heard of this little band called the brian jonestown massacre?" obviously, he was not in that band. over the course of the next ten minutes, we learned that he was not playing the fest, but he once played tambourine for a band that opened for brian jonestown maybe a couple of years ago. "people weren't into it, so i got up and left. and now i resent this WHOOOOLE town, man."

 the sign.

 rachel's in the shot.

 nutrients are illegal.

 a band (?) that did not play psych fest, but plastered their stickers everywhere.

 america's gonna get ~crazy~.

bathroom graffiti.

monday night in austin

i'm playing this sweet free show here on monday night. i'm pretty stoked. i don't know sean renner, but jesse, luke, and kellie all write really great songs. i'm so stoked. if any of my austin friends are reading this, i'd love to see and hug you and sing songs to you.

austin day 2

we all woke up in good spirits, excited to see what the day would bring. after a lengthy time of getting ready, fixing bikes, and misreading directions, we all ended up at cafe medici on west lynn to visit jesse and get caffeinated. after kicking it for a bit in the cafe, we walked across the street and ate at zocalo, which had the most mindblowing queso. we stuffed ourselves significantly, hopped back on the bikes, and headed through downtown to check out the capital building.

i was really stoked to see the architecture of the building and get a (small) sense of texan history, but i really wanted to check out the basement. on day 1 when rachel and i were reposing at jesse's house, he played us a song that he and his band holy boats recorded in that space. the natural reverb was heavenly (there's like an 8 second decay), so i really wanted to hear my own voice drowned in all that echo. we stayed down there for a good ten minutes, singing songs and trying to remember other songs, marveling at how beautiful it sounds. i really wanted to record something, but a voicemail would not have done it justice.

after the capital building, we hopped back on our bikes and cruised back home to get ready for night 1 of the psych fest.

parking the bike on the capital grounds.

 l-r: raerae, amanda, chris.

 texas rotunda. chris: "i think this rotunda is lopsided. it's almost as though texas has a lack of perspective." 

excellent art in our little house. 

excellent art at the bus stop. 

we finally met our other north carolinian friends, ben and genevieve, during holy wave's set in the early evening. i didn't take that many photos (that looked remotely cool) during the music, but i'll try tonight. it was really awesome seeing ben and gen again without the context of chapel hill or north carolina. it's nice to know when you have a true friendship with someone.

 lotus plaza at the beauty ballroom.

sun araw from above.

more tomorrow, friends.

austin - day 1

on thursday we landed in austin. bill picked us up and started us on the road to good vibes. we talked about his new baby and how raising a child is beautiful and mindblowing (i don't have a kid, but am fascinated by them) while rolling into town in search of coffee and food. austin was a good 30 degrees hotter than our fair mountain city of asheville, so my flannel and boots were a  bit inappropriate.

after coffee we went to drop our stuff at our little rental house, then bill took us over to wheatsville coop where we bought some groceries and had the most bangin vegan mac and cheese of life.

we got ourselves settled for a spell at the house, decompressing from travel and then decided to bike over to baby blue (bill's studio) and jesse's house over on cotton street. we were too early to catch bill, but jesse's proved to be an excellent time.

i told the cat to "put em on the glass." 

texas bugs

east side pies. amanda and chris got in shortly after we made it to jesse's, so they biked over and met us. we walked down to the corner store and got beers, then walked another block up to east side pies to chill and swill. while we munched on pizza, thor harris (swans, shearwater, bill callahan) sat with some friends and played clarinet. it was weird and awesome. the pizza was good.

art at cotton house.

explanation of art.

some videos of a recent secret show

revisit

here's a couple songs my brother and i made together back in 2007 when i was still making weird rap music. finn made the beats, i did the raps.

march madness
this was an attempt to write a protest song about the iraq war. we recorded the lyrics in finn's little studio at his house in durham. i remember getting really flustered about certain parts of the first verse and staring intently at the urge overkill poster above the door in order to keep calm.

cut in half
this features robert biggers on some seriously clipse-sounding drums (circa hell hath no fury).
we recorded this song in my parents' kitchen, using the pantry as the vocal booth and whiskey as fuel. i was deep in a horror movie phase, so the song was about a killer of some sort. i love how the song just falls apart, especially when finn exclaims right at the end when i just stop rapping altogether. also, title is a reference to this hilarious beck song called "cut in half blues."

hopefully soon we'll be able to release the collaborative record we recorded last year as curtains & chuvaque entitled "the brothers krunkamazov." it's a good record.

forget the physical

the wonderful folks at residual stacks are putting out my first record, forget on cassette! i'm really stoked to finally have physical copies of this jam. ordering info and everything will be posted soon.

in other news:

-the newest record is totally close to completion. i have a couple more songs to finalize, and then plans will be made to share it with all of you. i think this may be the best thing i've worked on thus far.

-my live setup has changed significantly with the addition of a sampler, a synth, and this amazing piece of gear:

it fucking rules. i'm spending a lot of time re-learning arrangements and songs i couldn't play before, so the curtains live show will become a completely new beast.

-rachel and i are performing a piece entitled "gardening" next weekend as part of the asheville fringe festival. it's an audio/visual combination that is meant to explore the relationship between the organic and the technological. our performances will be jan. 20 and 21st at the black mountain college museum in downtown asheville. if you're in the area, please stop in and zone out!

also, here's a video

a film student at western kentucky university emailed me saying that she'd heard my first record, forget, and was immediately inspired by the song "lawnmower in the garden." she made this video and sent it to me. it's pretty rad.

i present to you the first curtains music video.

countdown from Danielle Elise Bartley on Vimeo.

for those who don't know, this particular song is a cover of a song written by my brother and his band,

the nein.

as per usual, it sounds best on headphones or a bigger system, not laptop speakers.

still of the night

curtains - still of the night

while looking out my window

yesterday i set up all my pedals in my bedroom in the late afternoon sun and decided to do an improv drone jam. my bedroom window looks directly west, so in the afternoon the sunlight breaks through the blinds in really beautiful ways. i've been doing more of these kind of ambient strange vibe type jams lately for things like a butoh dance performance at the mint museum in charlotte and as one of the participants in john cage's musicircus at unc-asheville.

so here's the one i did yesterday. it's best listened to on headphones or a stereo system.

the only non-voice sounds are the tapping of a lone bongo and some feedback i made at the end.

curtains - tuesday's sunset

abandoned high school

hey there!

so there's more news now to share with you fine folks who read this blog. i've been recording a lot lately, so the new record is even closer to completion than ever. still untitled, but this record fits together better than anything i've done up to this point. i'm really excited about it.

there may be an announcement soonish regarding my second record, "skeleton keys." you may get to hear it soon!

okay, so here are some show dates:

tomorrow, october 7th, i will be driving straight from sylva back to asheville, setting up my gear on campus, and playing about an hour and a half of music both ambient and not ambient somewhere around unca's quad. i'm participating in "musicircus," which is part of a weekend-long tribute to john cage, sponsored by the black mountain college + art museum. more info on the program is here.

also, here's a description of musicircus:

"The first Musicircus was performed in 1967 at the University of Illinois. The idea was to extend an open invitation to musicians of all types and skill levels to perform simultaneously whatever music in whatever location they chose within a designated territory during a specific time period. The various chance encounters of different musical performances and environmental events create a unique happening that is specific to each time and place."

a week from tomorrow, i'll be playing at my friend matthew sherwood's new music store for his grand opening party! i'm stoked beyond stoked for this. here's a link to the facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256934184344686. also playing are electric owls and ice cream. i think there's links to all the band pages on the event invite.

then, a week after that, i'll be playing a free show at the grey eagle here in asheville. also jamming that night is the incredible joshua carpenter and local heroes the if you wannas. also, that show is totally free.

on another note, if you've got the boards of canada blues, i highly recommend this jam:

tycho - dive

stuttering, broken beats nudge analog synth tones in and out of focus. it's really good.

tonight is the night is the night is the night

tonight i share the wedge brewery's stage/patio area with the awesome and amazing arches from philadelphia!

we start at 8pm. be there and have a good time, or don't be there and hopefully be doing alright anyway.

now call down your dark and your cold and be damned

so here's some news:

there are at least three shows i'll be a part of in beautiful asheville, nc in the coming weeks/months.

on september 8th, i'll be playing at the get down in west asheville with these bands:

just die! (avl, nc) - http://justdiehardcore.bandcamp.com/

the rice cakes (providence, ri) - http://www.myspace.com/rozraskin/

on september 12, i'll be playing at the wedge in the river arts district with:

arches (philly, pa) - http://arches.bandcamp.com/

and maybe someone else from someplace else

and on october 22, i'll be at the grey eagle jamming with:

if you wannas (avl, nc) - http://www.ifyouwannas.com/

joshua carpenter (avl, nc) - http://potluck.bandcamp.com/album/full-flight

i'm pretty stoked and i think you should be too.

additionally, i've been hard at work at a new record, which is still unnamed at the moment. there are about 8 songs done so far and a few more that are simmering, ready to become full and happy.

also, once the artwork is done, i'll be putting out a couple solo tapes by the members of one of my favorite bands, city center. both are gorgeous washes of noise and melody, certain to please your ears. what's more, i did the b-side remix of the patient to patient tape. killer!

if you read this blog and live in asheville or nc or anywhere, i hope to see you soon. there are shows in lexington, ky and athens, ga on the horizon as well, so we'll meet soon.

love all of you.

foggy mountains

curtains - scawmy

texas heat

since i'm catching up for several months of missed posts, here's a set from my time in austin, tx this spring. i played at my good friend jesse's house for the one year anniversary of his monthly series of house jams. it was killer!! i heard so many wonderful austin musicians that night and was honored to be a part of that jam. jesse recorded the set and it sounds pretty amazing.

curtains - april 3 at cotton house, austin, tx

also, here's a picture of my neighbor's amazing cat, moose.

krautrock

it's been way, way too long since i've updated. i've been super busy with new sounds, new jobs, new experiences, and trying to sleep in between. here's a jam that i made a little while ago.

curtains - isolation tank

been a long time, shouldn'ta left you

winter is slowly dissolving into spring and i couldn't be happier about it. things have been pretty intense lately and the brutal cold/grey past months burrowed deep into my brain.

the first couple shows with the new setup went super well!!! the chapel hill show was especially good, as i'd never played these songs to that many people before. it's unfortunate that the bar upstairs from chapel hill underground was blasting super loud techno, but i fought against it best i could.

i'm playing again super soon at broadways in asheville. the homie jay moritz hooked up this really excellent poster:

i've learned some arrangements for some new jams, so this should be another good one.

in other news, there are still some copies of sleep good's tape "strange vacations" available through dark mom tapes, so grab one soon before they're all gone! there's a bunch of great things coming up from the label, including a tape from ryan howard's patient to patient, fred thomas's child, a new curtains tape, and a bunch more sweet sounds.

here's to spring!

gold and gone

this is a cover of city center's song, "gold girls." this version of the song was the first thing i made for my new record (which is taking shape and coming along quite nicely). it features a sample of my friend jillian playing the singing saw in my living room and some serious hiss.

curtains - gold girls

practice makes perfect

i practiced really hard for the show i played on saturday night. it was my first show in four months and i was (understandably) very nervous. i practiced and practiced and practiced, probably to the chagrin of my downstairs neighbors. i recorded each practice and culled together the best moments of those sessions. these versions of the songs are super different from the record versions, which i think keeps the songs fresh and interesting. deconstructing and reconstructing your own songs reveals new things about them you never would have thought about.

anyway, here's a little ep of those jams.
equipment used: line 6 loop pedal, danelectro octave pedal, tambourine, egg shaker, glockenspiel. i think you can hear the dog barking in the first track, too.

1. puddles/don't you worry
2. pink cadillac
3. xmas lights
4. no more sleep

enjoy!

curtains - practice tape ep

sleep good - strange vacations c25

hey everyone! i am really, really pleased to announce the first release on my label dark mom tapes. this first tape is from sleep good, an amazing dream pop band from austin, tx led by will patterson. this tape is something else. side a is dreamy, baroque pop jams and side b is a 10 minute zen/synth zone out. awesome handmade art by rachel.

paypal $6 to crashkills@gmail.com for your copy. this is an edition of 30, so act quickly!