I opened a house concert for my old friend and tourmate Michael Holt. This is the warts and all document, sneetched from Facebook Live. Super rough around the edges and straight from the heart. All new songs except for the opener and closer, this is “what I’ve been up to”, sort of.
Aaah, the spoils of youth. Classic photobombing by Danny Michel.
2014, year of the Twerk. Oh, the Horse. The damn “new record(s)” is/are taking forever, but yet I keep stealing time for them from my busy busy actually-income-streaming life. You’ll like them, I swear. One of the catchier numbers was unveiled in Radio Free Song Club’s episode #30, of which I am understandably honoured to interlope.
Number 30 | Radio Free Song Club
TO PLAY THE SHOW: Click the arrow. Click in the text box to move forward or back in the show. Adjust the volume with the bars on the left.
I moved to Washington DC (“our nation’s capital!”) at the end of last year. I miss Dar but it’s also nice having my studio back again. I took a Coursera Songwriting MOOC with professor Pat Pattison of Berklee. While finding time for hours of lectures, writing and demoing whilst full-timing a three-year-old was tricky, I learned a ton of valuable stuff, even at my advanced age. The peer assessment feedback was priceless. Assuming you’re curious, here’s my final assignment:
Now that I am practically soaking with UAD mix horsepower, I decided to dust off and finish up a couple more unreleased, abandoned, practically decontextualized recordings for the Lovers Leap bonus record — one you’ve heard if you basically EVER saw me play a show from 2000 on. The other one you’ve never heard of, I promise, but if you spent time in Parkdale in the early oughts you shall chuckle heartily. And the other other one was the flip of the ultimately non-existent Nova Bryk split 7″. (Those guys are so incredibly post-rock now, they were like “yes, take the rock from us Bryk, it’s yours now.”)
Also, I hereby promise never to Twerk.
Came across this dead link while searching for Lovers Leap Deluxxxe reissue media. That beats Tiny Desk Concerts by a decade! Sadly, the actual files of the performances are probably long since deleted.
Spin | Features | Spin Live
Spin Magazine: The Online Authority for Music and News
I keep coming across stuff that makes me wish I was still half as clever as I was in my 20’s. This is from an interview with Tokyo’s Kansai Scene:
Q: If some stupid rock critic asked you to list your influences, what would you say?
A: Late nights, loud music, and air conditioning. Rock critics always think my influences are Randy Newman and Jonathan Richman, when it fact it’s more like Walter Benjamin and Hoffman-LaRoche.
Q: What’s next for Dan Bryk?
A: Sleep, followed by strong mochaccino, some light exercise, a morning spent at the piano, and perhaps a late afternoon at the bookstore browsing Billboard and The Baffler. I will drive home, prepare a delicious meatless dinner entree, and then feel guilty about procrastinating all day.
But seriously kids, don’t squander your precious, precious youth! When you have a job and kids of your own, you will read statements like that one and feel incredibly envious of your younger self to the point of hatred. And then you will just feel stupid.
Let’s see… what else is new? The Deluxe! Lovers Leap reissue hit a bit of a snag after a drive full of original artwork and media assets went into storage instead of coming to Africa with me… but the audio part is all ready and should have some real treats for y’all: Outtakes, alternates, demos, contemporaneous originals, radio sessions and a couple of live versions. And finally, that “Rick WakeMed” cover of Feelings I was too chicken sh*t to release. The original concept was “Lovers Leap: Lucky 13th Anniversary Edition” but it looks like I’m going to slip by that date.
Here’s a question: Does anyone still care about iTunes LPs? I was going to make one as proof of concept that I have the up-to-date .css and .js skills to actually make one, but it looks like Apple and The Orchard might make me jump through hoops to make that happen. I love reading liner notes, especially when they contextualize reissues of things I don’t know enough (or anything) about, and there are some pretty good Lovers Leap stories to share. Every song has at least a paragraph or two, and there are a essays and assays. Would anyone be offended if I just made a 99¢ Kindle Single of the liner notes for anyone who cares enough? I can include a PDF in the Bandcamp version.
Of course, if we kickstarted some vinyl, I would have plenty of room for liner notes…
The song that started it all, now in glorious 480p.
At last, I can die a smug and satisfied man.
TrouserPress.com :: Dan Bryk
DAN BRYK (Buy CDs by this artist )Dan Bryk, Now! EP (No! Discs) 1995Dan Bryk, Asshole (No!