Let this explode your mind grapes.

This is a fantastic lecture from Terrence McKenna called Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines.  McKenna was devoted in the study of enthogens and metaphysics and wrote several books including “Food of the Gods.”  He once said that:

“Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort and ignore. That is that Nature is some kind of minded entity. That Nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind.”

-B

Dancing Bears

Hey everyone. Whether you read this before or after you listened to this song, I hope you enjoy it, now and then. I wanted to tell you a few things that I thought were special in recording this song. I originally recorded this song on Blaine’s MBox the other day. I played a great seven-minute take, just wonderful. But somehow, in my misfortunes, I managed to completely erase it. No ctrl-z. I was pissed. Regardless, I recorded another version and went to sleep.

I grabbed my soundboard and condenser mic from the mountain yesterday so Team Mosquito! can get some better recordings done. I hadn’t used it since high school. In a fit of productivity tonight (I had just finished building a wall-shelf for my record player and stereo), I decided I was going to record all night to finish this song…which I did.

The guitar and vocals were recorded in one take. I am proud of this. It is a difficult lick. I went back to add some drone-y bass to fill in the bottom end. Added to the drone is some excellent waterpipe done by a close friend of mine. And lastly, to drive it on the bottom, I stuffed my new garbage can with a pillow, flipped it over and covered it with a towel and banged on it repeatedly while listening to what I played with cheap headphones.

While mixing this down, I went back and forth between the headphones and my stereo. However, I want to point out that I had my speakers at my back, at an angle, which gave me a very interesting vantage point at analyzing the sounds bounce around my square walls. I enjoy the lo-fi sound. Replicating it digitally is something, I admit, that feels dirty and wrong, but I don’t mind doing it. Do with what you got. Dancing bears don’t mind warm beers.

– Guntown

Down From The Mountain

Hey everyone. Just finished moving my stuff into the Ramsell House from my small flat on Guntown Mountain. I miss Josh already. Magic doesn’t quite know what is going on. We’ve determined that he believes Josh has gone to work. Currently, he is rolling on his back, asking politely for as much attention as can possibly be given. This familiar place feels unfamiliar for both of us. I’m ok with it.

–

Guntown

Farewell Josh!

Hey everybody. As I’m slowly recovering from last night’s bitchin’ birthday party for our good friends at Clayton House, I thought I’d get some work done and let all of you know about next weekend’s Team Mosquito! gathering at our favorite Ramsell House. Our great friend Josh is moving out and we want to say goodbye to him the right way! So, after LoveFest and Hardly Strictly, stop over for some good times and say yer goodbyes before Josh moves away!

Saturday, October 3rd!

130 Ramsell St!

9p!

BYOB!

w/ live musical guests:

The Guntown Kid

Jeff&Blaine

Wahfffles

Wahfffles show tonight!

Hey e’erybody. Wahfffles is playing a show tonight with FARTICUS in the Outer Mission!

8pish

BYOB.

1030 Silliman St.

Gonna be heady times! Bring yer friends!

Live from the Bathroom

Latley I have been inspired by space, which is what this last recording session worked with. One night after we had performed I was walking my acoustic guitar back up to my room, playing and singing “Blue Ridge Mountains” by Fleet Foxes. As I moved from the basement, through the stair well and by the bathroom I could hear the sound both I and the guitar making was changing as I moved. The two sweet spots I found were at the top of the stairwell facing toward the cut away in the well, the other one was in the bathroom underneath the raised skylight. After a couple of days of freaking out my roomies by playing guitar in the bathroom I decided to raise a Mic up into the skylight to see what it would sound like to record from inside the bathroom. The recordings of Blue Ridge Mountains and Peaches n’Cream is what came out. I started with Blue Ridge because it is what started the whole idea of space. I had a couple of false starts but soon after I closed my eyes and let the music take over. I tried recording the song a second time but the space wouldn’t have it. The first take was the best. I also decided to do Peaches n’Cream because it was the first song I learned on acoustic and I had yet to record it. Once again we tried recording it a couple of times but the first take was still the best. Everything was recorded live because I think that is what yields the truest music. Perfection is attainable through the technology that we use but it is our mistakes that are inherently human. I hope you enjoy the recordings. I want to keep playing with space. I have a daydream of finding an old abandoned building somewhere in SF, traveling with a guitar and some simple recording equipment, and exploring Space.
-B

i wrote this at two in the morning, but i’m posting it now because i fell asleep! welcome!

so, team mosquito! has a blog now.  and you’re on it!  how about that?  somebody had to be the first person.  i called ‘shotgun’ on it, because i’m such a HUGE SHOTGUN WHORE.  

to anyone out there who might be confused at this point, we’re team mosquito!  we like to do things, and exist mainly to be against bender.  those of you who know bender probably get it, but if you don’t know him, trust me, you want to be against him.  now, at this point, you’re probably wondering why we have a blog, or maybe now, you’re wondering how i know what you’re wondering in secret.  as to the latter, i am always in your head (even when you’re sleeping or reading or doing boring things), and in regards to the former, i assume it’s to keep us from talking to ex-girlfriends over facebook at two-thirty in the morning.  you know, as a safe alternative, that sort of thing.  i’m sure we’ll all use it however we need to.  

that said, i imagine this will be the place to hear about shows, releases, trivia, news, musings, rantings, behind-the-scenes pictures of all the naked tm! recording sessions, that kind of thing.

on a similar note, i had a jumbo burrito today.  you can imagine how big it was because it has ‘jumbo’ right there in the title.  it was bigger than my FACE, that’s how big it was.  it was pricey, but ultimately worth it, because (i don’t know if i mentioned this) it was as big as my FUCKING FACE.  ocean taq.  check it out.

-rp!