Lighthouse in the Rain
I was on a trolley tour of Salem Mass when I saw a lighthouse in the rain
Each droplet felt like a forgotten friend rolling down the glass pane
As the water crashed to the shore, poems were born then receded into the eternal sea
This trolley ride in the cold rain is more than my words can see
Yours in poetry that matches a photo,
Count Robot
The Saxophone Colossus no longer walks on this planet.
Saw him play a number of times. He was a great talent.
You are not forgotten.
Yours in listening to a jazz legend,
Count Robot
Sights of the Unseen
Sights of the unclean
A low cost cafeteria closes
Only the original neighbours care
All those memories have fallen and lay bare
Gently sweep aside the generation before,
you bloated real estate whore
Gentrification is neighbourhood assassination
Sights of the unseen
Yours in copyrighted poetry,
Count Robot
Rise
I am a fan of Herb Alpert with or without the Tijuana Brass, although his time with the brass is my favorite period of his music overall.
If you don't know about Herb Alpert here's a link to his wiki page.
Yet, I am addicted to the song Rise which doesn't feature the brass at all.
Rise is a disco era song.
The backing music is pure disco. It's not great, its kind of standard disco.
So why am I hooked on this song?
It's all about Alpert's playing.
I can hear his playing in the jukebox of my mind without the backing track and it sounds glorious, but it even sounds better with it.
Because his playing is so purposeful that it elevates the material and gives it a life it otherwise wouldn't have.
Alpert's playing starts off low, haunting, almost nostalgic, then it does indeed rise to become joyously triumphant, then slowly descends down into longing melancholy.
Sublimely beautiful. Most times I don't even think about the fact that the track is over seven minutes.
I've been lucky enough to see Herb Alpert on his current tour and he's played Rise both times and nailed it both times.
Here's a video I shot of him playing it on the current tour.
Yours in wonderful music,
Count Robot
Infinite Mirror of Dreams
I dreamt of you and your mummified squirrel
Then I dreamt of your spirit’s transferal
How many dreams are we away from madness?
How many dreams are we away from gladness?
When your shape is re-shaped
there’s every chance you’ll be miss-shaped
You used to feed the squirrel in the park
then you found it dead and dark
Then I dreamt of you two
Two that I never knew
Yours in words,
Count Robot
Batlantis is the 6th Amplissima album.
Amplissima is a four person audio project.
Recorded on Saturday 10/12/24 at Maudslay Park, Newburyport, MA, in the Bunker
The Bunker in Maudslay Park is an acoustical dream. In years past it had been built to house orange trees in the winter.
The place sounds just incredible and is a character in every track on this album.
This session was really long. We have about another hour’s worth of recordings to sift through.
The sequencing for this album was pretty easy. We just went from the shortest track to longest. It felt natural.
Amplissima is:
E Dahlfree: Trumpet, overtone singing, duck call, alto recorder, percussion, prepared phone
Tim Mungenast: Acoustic guitar, vocals, overtone singing, and Trans-Siberian Llamaphonics. -Tim had never played acoustic guitar with us at any of our recording
sessions with Amplissima before and it was a nice change but it is also a challenge to bring that instrument up in the mix with so much power coming from the trumpet.
Dobra Jené Ashentree: Mandolin, one string Cigar box dulcimer, tamborine, shuffling dance, vocals, and general beating on anything metal
Van Wyrdlocke: Voice, bell, circuit bent toy keyboard, kazoo, soupcan microphone, slide whistle
1. Batlantis 2:43 - A rather different track for us. E (AKA Eric) asked us if he could “direct” us and of course we said yes. The results were interesting.
Speaking for myself, I had been listening to a lot of early rock and roll and started thinking about all the strange vocal sounds people would put into these recordings so that’s where I was at. E came up with the title for this one and that led to naming the album. E made a lot of audio captures for this session and one of them is featured in the background here. What does “directing” mean, well he previewed what we were going to do then cued us when he wanted us to start and stop. Lots of fun.
You can hear Eric walking around us as he directs. We don’t try to hide the reality of recording outdoors, we embrace it. Dobra has some fine vocal moments here. Tim has tasty stellar guitar too.
2. Ice Cream Truck vs Giant Singing Goat In The Sumner Tunnel 4:21 -Tim came up with this title. I did a spoken rant, the content of which really didn’t fit with the Amplissima vibe. So I warped it, so that the words just become part of the soundscape. Do you hear dreams when you’re awake? Lots of collaging in this one.
Lots of feedback courtesy of the soupcan microphone. Big time feature of E’s prepared phone later in the track. Gives a nice corroding kick towards the end. You can also hear a circuit bent toy keyboard towards the end.
3. Flamenco Tibetto 7:26 -Great trumpetting by E. A whole lot of bells. Eric singing like a viking. Lots of overlaying on this one too. Dobra’s shuffling dance occurs during this track. Tim and E duel with overtone singing. The angelic dream of Dobra’s singing calms the battle. E does some nice old timey trumpeting. Great booming prepared phone stuff on here too. I give a lot of credit to the acoustic brilliance of the Bunker for the way this album sounds. E leads the way out.
4. Altered Bird States 11:46 -The beginning of this track features some gorgeous guitaring by Tim. Ok this whole track features gorgeous guitar by Tim. Also enjoy the vocals by Dobra and Tim. The first of the two epic tracks.
There were lots of spiders hanging around in the corners of the Bunker. I hope they dug this recording session. Percussion explodes in this track.I am responsible for the slide whistle. If you don’t like it blame me. E used a stick to smash against a pole in the Bunker during this track. E the barbarian! E and Tim nailed the overtone singing.
5. The Countess Waits In Her Crumbling Mansion 12:02 - What is plasmodium? Ask Tim! There’s a lot of layers on this track. Like a psychedelic birthday cake.Kazoos galore! If there were more kazoos in the world, there would be less crumbling mansions. Chaos in composition. Dobra cuts it up on the mandolin! I hear the knocks and you can enter. E’s prepared phone and the sounds of his videos go wild here. Mad sounds spread around you. It didn’t sound like this when were recording this track, but that’s ok, because this sounds unlike reality. Guitar and mandolin locked into grooves on the downslide of the track.
Everything created, produced, and mastered by Amplissima
The song Batlantis was directed by E Dahlfree who did a wonderful job with it.
Here is the first ever video band interview with Amplissima!
Yours in album chat ups,
Count Robot
A dude with a Primus Shirt
Found myself at a mall.
There he is, a man with a faded Primus t-shirt walking slowly down the hall.
I say to him, “Cool shirt, dude.”
He smiles as every vast wrinkle on his face folds with a crinkle.
He’s probably not much older than me.
That smile still has the 1990’s attitude of someone who saw Primus while they still sucked.
Rock and Roll will never die until we’re all dead.
Yours in in rock and roll,
Count Robot
