For the last 6 years or so my little brother has been hacking through the adventure of mostly self-taught DIY playing, recording, experimenting, etc. In my non-expert opinion he's come up with some things that, if not 100% certifiable genius, are at least damn pleasant, and show a great degree of promise/talent.

Unfortunately, he's always had a pretty strong hatred for the kind of people who try to advertise themselves, and for this reason he rarely plays live, and has generated little to no water-cooler-talk worthy hubub. This eats me up pretty hard, because I'd much rather see him succeed in using his talents to make a living, rather than resorting to pizza delivery, prostitution, and mooching off of me and my bullshit "real" job (I actually don't mind this at all, but kid feels guilty).

In this thread I'll be sporadically uploading recordings he's made. If you are curious, I gladly welcome any and all of you to take a listen. Feedback is unnecessary, but any words you have, are greatly appreciated.

"Oh, he lives near LA, there's this place I know where he should play live..."

"I really like this song, but suggest adding/subtracting/tweaking such and such..."

"KEEP REACHING FOR THE STARS!!!!!!!!!"

Really, just to have one or two people hear and enjoy songs that would otherwise dissipate into meaningless existence. That would make our day.

Trained mostly in classical guitar, my bro, or Bad Brad as he's known by my iPod has recently started experimenting with a keyboard synth picked up at some second hand joint. This song is one of my favorites from a batch of instrumental tunes he recorded this december.

RIYL:
indie folk kids experimenting with electronic music while going through big Scott Walker binges
genius tunes that are poppy and floaty

Sevens

since it's you, fletch, i'm downloading. thanks.

Bradley has struggled at times getting vocals recorded properly and without masses of unwanted feedback (luckily, he got a new mic for XMAS, so hopefully some good stuff is on the horizon).

Regardless, I absolutely love the way this one turned out. Written about 3 years ago and recorded/played in many different iterations, I think this is easily the best version. The kid has 0 training in voice recording, and I'm not sure how he managed to get this done.

RIYL:
vague lyrical wanderings in catchy but dark folk songs
songs about forests
things that echo

The Face of the Forest

EDIT: um... my "RIYL" comment makes no sense. This is a totally different song that's... pretty neat! But not The Face of the Forest. Damn technology.

Thanks man! I usually don't like jamming things down the throat of unwanting victims (insert rape joke here), but in this case, I'm giving you my five star guarantee. That song is at the very least, quite pleasant.

very enjoyable, i probably won't listen to it too often, but i'll give a chance to whatever you upload. have you checked out bibio, btw? your bro's stuff is somewhat reminiscent.

Never heard bibio, though I'll definitely give em a listen. I vaguely recall some chatter during the year end list-making, but otherwise I don't really know anything about that stuff.

And thanks much for listening. There's so much music out there to sift through, that it's tough to listen to every random demo tape that gets tossed on the internet. You're alright in my book for sure.

Both these were from an EP my bro recorded about a year and a half ago.

First one is a pretty straightforward instrumental, with just guitar and a catchy little hook. But there's something in it that gets my heartstrings everytime. I hear this and instantly wish I were a brilliant filmmaker, so I could use this and similar songs in my soundtracks. As is, it soundtracked my "sitting around drinking a beer or two in the afternoon during fall time" of '08. Very pretty.

All in the Top

This one is a bit more jarring, and if I recall, was his first foray into multi-tracking guitars. Another personal favorite. He manages to do a lot with a little, and this track still floors me to this day:

Flashback

And just so I don't get into the groove of posting all instrumentals, this is a recording from this summer which features some speak-sing vocals over a dark and foreboding track with a very odd sounding... "what the fuck is that thing" instrument. I apologize for my less than stellar powers of musical description...
RIYL:
The Kafka novel Amerika?

America

One more for the night then I'll let it rest for a while.

This one's from the same sessions as the first song posted. Listened to it for the first time walking along michigan avenue in the cold while home one night for the holidays and fell in love a bit. Found a really great sound with that synthesizer... all over this tune. Don't really know how to describe it. Uptempo and catchy, but with miserable undertones. Probably about chicks.

The Ways You Treat Your Lovers

I think I liked "America" & "The Ways You Treat Your Lovers" best.

Not to try to talk your brother out of his bedroom, but you could mention the RPM Challenge to him; you make an album in 28 days, and you're only sharing as much as you want with fellow artists, not the general public.

Thanks Freddie! Never heard of that before, and I'll def have him take a look at it. Glad you enjoyed those songs. I've been listening to The Ways You Treat Your Lovers a lot these days. I'm interested to see what comes out of these new recordings... if he's going to add lyrics, etc.

I just realized that I posted the wrong song for "The Face of the Forest." A nice enough tune (called Walking, Leaving), but the one I wanted to post was actually mis-titled on my computer. The album those songs were on was a seven song ep from this spring that I can find very little wrong with. I posted it a long time ago, and don't even remember what thread. Remember Vamos said he thought it was pretty good. Here it is, in its entirety for anybody who's curious:

Songs for Strings and Percussion: Volume 1



And because I just listened to it, here's an oldie:

Gone On Blue

This is a version recorded years ago with a 2 man band my little bro used to be in. Still a staple at infrequent live shows, this one has always been a crowd favorite. This is the only actual recording there is of this song, and I kinda wish there were a better version out there, but oh well. You get the idea. Indie folkie tune stuff. One of a few of my favorites that I gotta persuade that kid to record again.

Just listened to Ambivilance Avenue, and boy... right up my alley.

I can see the comparison, though Bibio seems to be a lot more into embracing the whole beat/dub/funk style. For sure I'm gonna be spinning this a lot. Thanks a bunch for the rec.

Kid's gonna play a little one guy with a guitar set tonight in LA at a place called Crane's Hollywood Tavern. Starts at 730. Doors are ten bucks, but apparently it's dollar beers, so that's always fun. SOMB invited.

I have no idea how cool the place is, or if this thing will even be decent, but if anybody shows up I'll buy you a round or two. "Tavern" is my preferred title for a drinkin' and or chilling out establishment, so hopes are high. There's also an outside chance that this is a theme place based on the crane kick, which would wail ass pretty hard.

Anyhoo, Brad recently recorded a few new ones. I'll end up posting them here in the near future for anybody interested.

I don't know what else to do with these songs so I'm posting them here.

knewness

Three instrumental tracks from this week.
Hand Me Arounds
Taken Away
We're Safe

All three feeling quite nice to me, especially the last two. The change in tempo/instruments coming in at about 1:40 in Taken Away, and I hope it's going to go somewhere, but it doesn't, then it happens again later in the song and holy shit it did go there, and I love wherever there is.

We're Safe... he's using an "electric guitar!!" He hasn't done that since covering Darryl Whorely songs at some weird country bar and pissing off/confusing the locals, but he uses it well in this purpose as, holy fuck, this sounds beautiful.

I don't know guys, this kid has to be enjoyed. I can imagine this music doing similar things to other people as it does to me.

FOOTBALL!!!!!

enjoy. or ignore. do what feels right.

Listen to this bullshit right now or I will murder you with knives. Fuck. Seriously I'm not an educated man, but this is better than all music. Fuck.

So... is it odd that I feel similarities between this and The Dream (even though my bro hasn't gotten into the dream despite all of my urgings)?

Anyways, there's a sound in here that I think could be an accompaniment to "Take You Home To My Mamma," but.... yeah, fuck it. I just think this is a great composition, and I'm totally down with anybody who wants to take the free sample:

Brohouse
think "take u home to my momma, home to my momma, home to my momma momma yeah.... doodooduldoo"

Fuck, I'm drunk again, just like in that last post, but I promise you this is a beautiful composition, and worth more than "fuck the naughties," or whatever this plug one forum has become recently.

And in case you give a damn about any of this semi suicidal bullshit, maybe you'll enjoy this bunch of free tunes from the same recording session... which i can't find on my computer, shit sorry, typed before i knew what was up, but if anybody's curious for real I'll just relearn how to zip shit and toss it your way. Man, fuck this. My trivia group named "the fashion of the christ" took third, but at least we knew that johnny depp's band was called "P."

Oh yeah, and thanks again to you, Freddie Freelance. Apparently my bro threw a bunch of shit together and signed up for that RPM Challenge thing. So, assuming this is going to make him a multi-billionaire, I'm going to spend some mad credit card cash on booze and quiznos brand sandwiches.

It may not make him a Millionaire, but it might get him to record a more cohesive demo and that might get him some positive attention, along with more of a will to get out of the guest room.

Here's the link to the album submitted to RPM Challenge. It is very very good in my awesome yet biased opinion.

New album on RPM Challenge

New vocal stylings may (may... don't personally think they do...) come off as unpolished, and beginner-ish at times, but that's only because it is exactly that. It's still fucking great, and I really hope somebody sees it.

This will be my favorite thing of 2010 without contest, or at least until The Dream releases that shit.

Damn, I finally tumbled to that influence I've been hearing in your Brother's stuff! Andrew Bird! I finally caught it after the musical saw! I'm also enjoying the use of Kalimba and multi-tracked vocals.

Been a while, but I really fell in love with this new track this morning. Anybody got some free time on your hands, give it a spin and lemme know what you think:

http://soundcloud.com/bedphones/stepps

Vocals have never really been my bro's strong point IMO, but I love what he's doing here.

Get excited for "the exchange" comin out near the end of march with all new trackssss!

Big ol' fucking album release party if anybody cares.....

meh. nobody will or should give two shits, but this will explode my brain banana.

Random shit on some website posted semi whenever. But from what I've heard, this doesn't tell much... the other stuff is better
http://soundcloud.com/bedphones

Quite electronicish lately.

New Bedphones project in the works. Pretty cool name imo. Posted about it drunk somewhere a few days ago. Damn, I miss this kid.

Single:

Side A: 1. Vizzion (20/20 mix)

Side B: 1. The Escape 2. Left Outside (Go Home Queer)

These are a few songs of the upbeat, electronic variety. Pretty surprised at the growth of all the non-guitar elements, as the kid's basically just fucking around and teaching himself to do this shit. Full album fourthcoming for any interested. Let me know what you think.