This month I have been busy in the studio helping Jars (of Clay) with the beginning stages of their new project. They decided to do some work in their rehearsal space for the month before they head over to Sputnik down the street. This means that they are still writing, pre-producing, working things out…recording along the way. I have been there helping them set up the space as a recording environment and acting as engineer so they can focus on being creative. These are artists/musicians whom I have grown up around, but I have never been so close to their process. It’s inspiring to see a band who has been together so long (15 years) continue to find new approaches to making music together and continue to have fun doing it.

“A Deeper Green” the new “quote” recording is finished and mastered. I’m really excited about the way this record turned out even though there is a bitter-sweetness attached to its release. This record signifies the last recording as “quote.” Both Justin and

Me and the Quote guys after finishing the record

Jamie will continue to make music in some form but they, for their own reasons, have decided to disband. I think this record does a great job of summing up what they do best as a collaboration. The closing/title track in particular is a perfect closing statement to their case as brilliant artists and unique collaborators. The stark guitar/vocal duet arrangement brilliantly showcases their ability to compliment each other vocally as well as instrumentally with even the simplest of instrumentation.

Another project on the horizon is the new “Choir at your Door” album. This is the name for the collaboration between Nathan Phillips (Winston Jazz Routine) and Aaron Roche. They recorded the record themselves over the summer when Nathan was living with Aaron in Riverside, California. I mixed and mastered it over the last couple of weeks. If you are familiar with the first “Choir” record (a Christmas project), you will find this project a little lighter and sunnier feeling. Something really special happens when these two brilliant songwriters work together, which is represented very well on these new recordings. Aaron has a knack for effortlessly crafting songs that sound as if they could have been written 50 years ago, while Nathan is a brilliant arranger, producer, experimenter. They’re respective talents meet to create something both accessible and dense. Check out their website for info about obtaining these new recordings.

I recently re-watched the movie “Adaptation.” This movie has become one of my favorites and it is one that, like all of Kaufman’s films, rewards multiple viewings. This time around the scene that stuck out to me the most was the one where the character of Charlie Kaufman attends the screenwriting seminar run by Robert Mckee (a real guy, by the way). This is not a spoiler, the scene in question was used heavily in the main trailer for the film.

Up until this point in the film, Charlie is painstakingly trying to craft a screenplay without the normal “cop-out’s” of a Hollywood film: action, love story, profound life lessons. He has hit a wall, and cannot figure out how to finish the screenplay. In a moment of profound defeat, Charlie attends Mckee’s seminar. The moment of clarity comes when Charlie sheepishly stands up at the seminar and asks Robert Mckee what he would do in Charlie’s situation.

“What if a writer is attempting to create a story where nothing much happens, where people don’t change…they don’t have any epiphanies…they struggle, are frustrated, and nothing is resolved…more of a reflection of the real world.”

This conclusion about reflecting the real world is one that, I believe, a lot of artists can relate to. Inside our own bubble it seems that to craft a true reflection of our world would be one that would often portray the boring lack of action in everyday life. What Mckee says in response is, in so many words, that this perspective is straight up wrong.

WARNING: F-BOMBS!!!!!

“…nothing happens in the world? Are you out of your fucking mind!? People are murdered every day…there’s genocide, war, corruption. Every fucking day somewhere in the world somebody sacrifices his life to save somebody elses. Every fucking day someone, somewhere, takes a conscious decision to destroy someone else! People find love, people lose it… For christ’s sake, a child watches her mother beaten to death on the steps of a church! Someone goes hungry…somebody betrays his best friend for a woman! If you can’t find that stuff in life, then you, my friend, don’t know crap about life! [now shouting] And why the fuck are you wasting my two precious hours with your movie!?? I don’t have any use for it! I don’t have any bloody use for it.”

This hit me as an attack on any art made out of cynicism, any art made out of a self-absorption. What Mckee proves is that there is definitive reason to care about things in the world. If you deny that…then you’re simply wrong. “You don’t know crap about life,” in Mckee’s words.

Art is not about your feelings about your life. Art should be a reflection of the world at large…from your perspective. This doesn’t mean that all art should be about everything, but it does mean that an artist should be aware that their life is not everything.

It is a tremendous honor to be featured in that magazine. If your curiosity was sparked enough for you to come here, I welcome you. If you are curious to hear some of the music I mention in the article you can find links in my “portfolio” page. Click on any of the artists’ names and you will be taken where you will need to be in order to sample/purchase their respective records. Two of the artists I discuss, Evan Goodberry and “quote,” both have new recordings that will be released soon. I produced both of these and am very excited about them. Evan’s was completed a while ago and should be available for digital download from his website once the artwork is completed. We finished tracking the “quote” record yesterday and I will be mixing it throughout the week. It will have limited physical availability but will be available for digital download wherever you find those sorts of  things. I thank you for visiting my site and listening to the music I have had the privilege to help create.

-Mike