the_chicken_angel_woman_with_a_triangle crOwl i have collected music since i was old enough to recognize what i was hearing. my first record was called, "iddy biddy buddy" and featured a small bird singing to huckleberry hound. in junior high i listened to the rolling stones' "goat's head soup" a thousand times. in high school it was dan fogelberg. in college, it was oregon. when my daughters were born, it was brian eno and new age. as they grew, it was rem, the cure, radiohead, arcade fire, conor oberst...etc. today, i search the internet for free downloads and stumble upon stunning new music. when johnny_west (raze) sent me "the chicken angel woman with a triangle," i was utterly captivated upon the initial listening. subsequent listening sessions have assured me that this record needs to be recognized by a much wider audience. it displays a bold and confident sound, almost antique-washed, marinated in the voices of singers like himself who had so much to say from being able to see. it belongs to no genre, bending them all to the point of breaking. if comparisons had to be made, then grant lee phillips is an attempt, or ryan adams, but then the musicianship and the meticulous use of strange instruments to compliment a story call out for magnified recognition. there are brilliant, honey-sweet pop songs, around-the-fire folk tunes, ambient moments, as well as vaudeville, cabaret, calloused-palm blues, and honky-tonk. i swear there were times i could taste whiskey, smell woodsmoke, and feel feathers. times when i laughed hard about soft things. i want to say that i'm on a journey and this music is the soundtrack highlighting the steps on stones, the crossing of bridges, the holding on to the shoulders of birds, sitting on the shoulders of giants. everything in its right place. best of all though is that we know johnny from red_blather. he's a fellow skite. from our tribe. he has our energy inside of him and somehow we are all in his songs, even if it's a nuance. and that's an honor and priviledge. 080919 ... raze the honour's all mine (dig the canadian spelling)...you flatter me with your beautiful words. 080919 ... no reason yay! (that's a nice "review") 080919 ... eatingstars is it possible.... to purchase this album somewhere? i listened to a few tracks on DRESSING TO UNDRESS (ramblings of a hirsute recluse) and thought it sounded beautiful. 080919 ... unhinged the old-fashioned sounds mixed with the modern sadness of the lyrics the old-fashioned instruments mixed with modern progression juxtaposition i was obsessed for at least a week. really the only thing i listened to. have given it to three people, planning on giving it to at least a couple more. it feels like a blanket, hug. and when i take long bustrips all alone, like he's sitting next to me. intimate. and on the techie side, the recording quality is pretty stellar for a do-it-yourself. 080919 ... raze it isn't for sale anywhere, but if you're comfortable giving some random 'skite your mailing address you can email it to me at woundedpear@gmail.com and i'd be happy to send you a cd. i was going to put some sort of open invitation up here a few weeks ago for anyone who was interested...and then i didn't, because it felt like it would smack of self-promotion or something. i'm happy to share the music with anyone who wants to hear it, though. and thanks for the kind words nicole...i probably could have done a better mixing job if i had spent more time on it and not just mixed everything immediately after it was recorded, and i mastered it hotter than i usually do with my stuff, but it just felt right throwing it together as quickly as it wanted to come out for some reason. i'd pay someone else to do this stuff for me and they'd doubtless do a better job, but then i'd have no money because i like to record whenever the urge happens to pop up and bits of brain matter start to dance in mysterious ways. the things we do out of necessity... 080919 ... unhinged most of my demos are one take wonders with very little home production work on them. there is something to be said for do-it-yourself recording. some songs are meant to be as raw as possible. i hate super slicked up production. if a band sounds better than on the cd than they do live....just not right. but if the cd can capture a little glimmer of the artist's live sound, now that's what i like to hear. 080919 ... jane {wow, johnny.} 080925 ... jane is humbled and baffled and {wow.} 080925 ... thorn i was so excited when this came in the mail. it is amazing. i love it. i am listening to it right now. 081005 ... auburn I didn't expect to listen to this so much. But it's certainly exactly where my headspace is. And I've listened to the CD no less than 10 times since Friday. I have much more to say about it. 081006 ... unhinged unhinged_in_honolulu my brother loves it 081006 ... eatingstars i have been waiting patiently for this to arrive it finally came yesterday now i can listen to awesome whenever i please thank_you johnny_west. 081007 ... raze hey, my pleasure...i'm glad i get to share it with all of you. it amazes me that people seem to like it. i might have something else finished before the end of the year; i've got a real piano over here for the first time in my life, and my sweet potato toes are singing like never before. 081008 ... unhinged people don't seem to like it; they DO like it enough with that humble modesty already i was just listening to it today, on the bus home from work, in the grocery store. ;-) 081008 ... cr0wl i was working at an amazing house today, pruning kwanzen cherries and trimming wine and roses weigila with a breathtaking view of a lake surrounded by woodlands on autumn fire and was listening to raze's masterpiece. i thought how cool it is that we here @ red share this...that, thanks to raze, we can all listen to the same sounds... 081011 ... now_now jane sent a song to me and I was hesitant to listen because she had talked it up so much... [often I'm afraid to listen to songs that I know will creep into my head and take up residence for too long]. Needless to say, I finally listened to it and have had it on repeat since that first listen. I'm happy to have it occupying my brainspace. Thanks for sharing your gift, you're a remarkable artist. 081011 ... raze thank you all for the kind words. i don't really know what to say...i was never expecting a response like this. but like i said before, i'm just really happy i can share it with all of you. hooray for snail mail! 081011 ... PeeT chisel and i were camping with his 13 year-old step son jonah and i played this record off my phone while we made our own snowshoes. chisel really liked it. it became a soundtrack for a warm fire and a night in the friendly woods. 121121 ... unhinged blather_synchronicity is scattered about my harddrive like fallen leaves cause for some reason itunes didn't have track information 121122 ... raze i can send you another hard copy if you'd like, nic...i "reissued" it a little while back, with the cover art in colour and a proper lyric booklet. it makes a good conversation piece. you know, you can have people over, and they'll say, "what the hell is that, and why is this guy singing about someone crying windshield wiper fluid?" but seriously, this album remains the most popular, widely-heard thing i've ever done, and at the time i was pretty convinced no one would be interested in it at all. it still boggles my mind a little. 121122 ... raze this album just turned ten years old. that's insane. time is insane. i miss the days when it was a little noisier around here and there were more 'skites to share music with. it feels like it was a lifetime ago, and it feels like it was just yesterday. it was fun finally having an audience in my own city for the noise i was making, but sharing things with the friends i made here always felt more meaningful somehow. i still wonder what will become of luke perry's nipples. 180822 ... e_o_i Happy album anniversary! :) This calls for a celebratory listening! After I get home from the wedding tomorrow if my ears aren't tired from loud music. (Ah yes, wedding. Of friend's little sister, "little" being 27 or 28, which also can make one feel old.) 180824 what's it to you? who go blather from