Texas by Super Famicom

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Like the state, I considered this album to be diverse and expansive, full of inside jokes and easter eggs. Its tracks were recorded in a number of places, using a lot of different stuff. Some are hits, and others are just silly, the kind of stuff you'd expect on an edgy cd's "hidden" track. In 2007, you could get away with calling it experimental. This is also my Super Famicom album with the most guest appearances. Maybe if you listen really hard, you'll hear yourself on it. The original cds were released on a short-lived label from the Kansas City area, called Red Chair Records. I might have chosen a less obvious, less wholesome album art. But you know how it is. You have to support these kids when they want to start their record label, even if they do jump the gun on the art for Your album. Cause you never know. Maybe they'll get really big and Not forget they ever knew about you.

Super Famicom split with Kids Are Goats

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Kids are Goats is a solo project of my friend Levon from Tennessee. While on tour with Redbear., Levon came out to our Nashville show. It was an early thing at this singer, Kelly Shay Hicks's house. Levon and I decided that day to make a split cd, and record it right there, since I had my four track with me. The acoustics at that house were really nice, and Kelly Shay offered to play viola on my tracks. We banged on the floor, and on our laps, to add percussion to Levon's tracks, and I didn't do very well at that. Instead of putting one of us at the first half of the cd, and the other on the second half, we mixed up our tracks. It was weird and we were weirdos. So in case you could never tell the difference, my songs were tracks 1, 3, and 6.

Art for this one was also done by Patrick Labahn of Redbear. fame. Aside from being recorded on tour, I'm pretty sure this cd was also released while we were on the road. So that's pretty cool, to have something for our friends who might have been wondering what an awesome time we were having. Keep in mind, this was before every cool rocker had an instagram to update every day. It was a time in which our musical work could be a primary connection between us and our distant audience.

Super Famicom split with Toby Foster, Ben Laatsch, and Redbear.

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One of the first shows of my long tour with Redbear., we played a coffee shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That night, we stayed at our friends' Mary and Ben's house, with Ben Laatsch and Toby Foster, who also played the show. We were having a pretty fun, exciting time, and decided it would be fun to commemorate the party by recording some songs. Patrick (of Rebear.) didn't want to record his songs that night because he wanted to play them really well. My songs were written on the spot, while everyone was going to sleep. Our friend Anna did guest vocals on one of my tracks, and I'm pretty impressed that she was able to just jump in and sing over my parts. The lyrics were already in my notebook, but the singing was all in the moment.

Pat did the art for the cd, and while I love his art, I'm really not into the use of band/musician caricatures. He also made himself a way more handsome than Toby and I, whom I consider both really good looking guys! There were no song titles listed with this release. What good were song titles if we weren't trying to push our smash hits onto people? This was cvlt before I knew what (I hoped) cvlt was, and this was what I wanted to do with PJ Records. Give artists an excuse to make something extra weird (and often) extra cool, while giving listeners something more intimate and genuine than whatever us songwriters were trying to commercialize for the sake of our brands and egos.

That being said, I'm not sharing for download or stream, any work done by my partners in splitting. I don't want to put them on the spot about it, after all these years. And if you want their tracks, you're on your own.

Super Famicom split with Real Live Tigers

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Upon first listen, I was a fan of Tony Presley's Real Live Tigers. I liked what he was going for, and we became fast friends, and did this split cd. Among twenty or so songs written and recorded in the same way in the same place, I hoped these few had the coolest vibes, representing more of what I was really going for. Ohio's famed Tract Records was putting out a cd-r of this, after all. And I also wanted Tony to think my songs were cool. I had to get the art for this from discogs, and I got to do the inside stuff (which you can find at discogs), which was a half-assed painting and a random photo of a tiger. I guess I kind of phoned it in, so I should probably remember that everytime I think of others going limp on me. But from here on out, I'm going to put maximum effort into every pixel of album art. Mark my words.

Super Famicom split with LA Beard Club

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The LA Beard Club was a musical project of a guy named Daniel Mueller, from California, probably LA. He was a total stranger who asked me if I, with Super Famicom, would do a split with him. I said that would be cool. It was 2007, and I was interested in doing what I could to help beginners get 'out there', the way I was 'out there'. My songs were all quickly recorded in my parents' basement, around the time that I did Emily Songs 2. There was a back room at the Red Herring Vegetarian Restaurant in Champaign, IL. That was where I did most of the singing and playing that went into the writing of these songs. I think there was someone who worked up stairs who didn't like that I did that. At the time I was really into writing lyrics at diners, and my songs were kind of goofy, and I used a very cool fake accent. The cd covers on hand-colored copy paper, wrapped in laminate, so I wouldn't say they're all of equal quality.

A Thousand Moving Lights by Super Famicom

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Staying the night at my friend Carlos's house, Evan (of The Winslows and Nice And Friendly) and I had just recorded our first pop punk song together. It had been a very fun day, and I wanted to write and record some music. While everyone was crashing out and watching a movie, I set up my four track and recorded this set of instrumental guitar songs. They are weird and sloppy, and really cool in some parts.

Emily Songs 2 by Super Famicom

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The spring of 2007 was a time of some severe ups and downs. There was something in the insert of this cd about how Emily and I had broken up before I finished this album. That's the truth. At the time, I really believed in seeing things through, and I was a little sore about having ruined my life for the sake of a relationship that wasn't worth it. Sometimes I chalk it up to my issues with self-worth. These songs were recorded in my parents' basement while they were probably sleeping. I didn't have a sleep schedule.

Super Famicom split with My Bicycle Emergency

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At the same time I moved back to Jacksonville, my buddy Wilson moved back to his hometown of Winchester, which was nearby. He also played guitar and had a solo project called My Bicycle Emergency. We hung out a lot and did some tours together. It made perfect sense for us to do a split cd, so we did. The cover art was done by a real southern guy named Chris Mantle, who Wilson and I met on our first tour together.