The Sky
The sky is wildfire orange
As orange as the corpulent flesh of the spray tanned hate machine
And this is normal now?
How?
Why aren’t we fixing this?
Remixing this ugly reality to something better forever for all of you, me, them, and us
We need to be the change that we need to become
Yours in smoke,
Count Robot
Of course, I'm not sure who is reading this blog, but I just wanted to say, thank you.
Hope you're all well.
Yours in thanks,
Count Robot
A write up of the collaborative album Road to the Sky by experimental artist Vanessa LeFevre & Astro Al.
This is an all instrumental affair.
An album by Vanessa LeFevre & Astro Al
Vanessa LeFevre: Diddly Bow, the Bass Lamellophone and the Spoke Projector Metallophone
These are instruments that Vanessa made herself or purchased from indie makers. All are hand made and wild.
Astro Al is:
DNA Girl: electric guitar, mandolin, FX
Count Robot: genometer, FX, Aztec death whistle, kazoo, monotron, duotron, duck call
A genometer is an old oscillator made for testing electronics. It can make warped sounds and tones. Bands like the Silver Apples and Hawkwind (in their early days) built their sound around them.
Recorded 7/15/23 on a late Saturday afternoon in Saugus MA. Vanessa has a nice large space in her house which makes a good recording spot.
It’s a rather raw recording. You can hear pedal buttons being pressed. We weren’t aiming for studio perfection.
Copyright 2024 Vanessa LeFevre & Astro Al
All material by Vanessa LeFevre & Astro Al
1. Take the Wheel 5:54 -DNA Girl slinging that guitar! Vanessa made some great tones here too!
2. The Shimmering Line 4:23 -This one is a more textural piece. A wall of sounds.
3. Sideways Dance 6:04 - Vanessa making those deep percussion sounds. DNA Girl carving up some guitar
4. Road to the Sky 6:41 - The squealing weirdness at the beginning is the genometer. This one is the title track probably because it’s one of the standout tracks. DNA Girl hits it!
5. Sea Lions’ Frolic 5:22 - Ah the kazoo makes an appearance. Vanessa is unleashing some wild sounds.
6. Bright Moon 6:16 - A nice spooky interplay of sounds. Vanessa leans into the Diddley Bow on this one making a nice tonal sweep of sounds.
7. Inside the Wheel 7:02 - A good one to end on with the chaos of sounds swallowing your ears. The ending of this track is a great album closer.
I think Vanessa named most of the tracks.
I like to try different stuff with the production style. Believe it or not I started out emulating the mastering style of electronic dance music for this album then shifted things a bit.
Yours in instrumental music,
Count Robot
Above is a link to episode 2 of the Dining Zone.
Hope you enjoy!
yours in food,
Count Robot
There is an upcoming recording session for our audio project, Amplissima.
We usually record in outdoor spaces (though we have done some recordings in a really acoustically interesting attic space). I am always trying to come up with different things to do during our sessions. One thing that came to mind recently is using an MP3 player to randomly playback severely altered versions of our prior recordings while recording our new works.
Hopefully it turns out groovy.
Yours in experimentation,
Count Robot
Question: What can you do that AI can’t?
Answer: Be really creative instead of regurgitating pr-existing stolen work.
Yours in AI art doesn’t exist,
Count Robot
