Steel Pole Bath Tub were an undeniably prolific band, releasing somewhere in the neighborhood of ten EPs and LPs between the years 1987 and 1995, as well as a heaping handful of singles. But even this level of productivity wasn’t enough for these noise-rock weirdoes, and the 90’s found the main members of SPBT participating in two fully-fledged side projects: Tumor Circus (with Jello Biafra), and Milk Cult, which was basically a pseudonym the band used when they wanted to explore their more sample-based, abstract electronic side. Some folks call it “industrial,” and as much as I’m not eager to describe this music as such (it’s not like it’s rooted in the KMFDM aesthetic) I guess that comes fairly close to hitting the mark.

I heard Milk Cult’s Burn or Bury (the band’s second release) shortly after it was released in 1994, and found myself particularly excited about it because the album featured guest spots from two members of one of my all-time favorite bands (still true): Faith No More. Billy Gould, Faith No More’s bass player, does a guest spot on guitar on a pummeling, metal-laced track called “Bow Kiness Static.” And it’s cool. But what I was really excited about was hearing the guest vocals that Mike Patton contributed to the album’s opener, “Psychoanalytwist.”

Patton’s now widely known as a highly experimental vocalist, but in ’94, he was still branching out, and a vocal turn like the one he pulls out on this song, while not completely out of left field, definitely felt like a step in a new direction. And that was exciting to me. But what was really exciting, and what kept me coming back, was the song itself. Patton’s vocals end up being only one part of what is not only an infectious and catchy tune, but also an unassumingly intricate one, which covers a lot of ground in three and a half minutes.

Milk Cult – “Psychoanalytwist”
 

The song opens with heavy breathing in the right channel, followed by a Click to read the rest…

Northern State are no longer together, and though that’s a bummer, they left us with three hyper-fun—and very different—albums before they hung up their microphones a few years back. I’m not here to give you a Northern State history lesson (though I’d love to), but it’s worth mentioning because they’re one of those groups whose sound changed starkly with each release. They were always hip-hop, but they constantly flirted with other genres and eventually became hard to classify, which was, for me, when they finally found the sound they had always been looking for and came into their own.

They never really intended a mass release of their first album, and accordingly, it was raw, better-than-demo-quality rap that was party-worthy, but never too complex (that’s not a bad thing). Their second release was more thoroughly produced, and more focused in general, but some of the looseness of their debut was conspicuously missing. Their third album, the one which featured the song we’ll be taking a listen to, was a huge step forward. The hip-hop elements are still in the forefront, but the band managed to incorporate a ton of other sounds and influences.

Northern State – Better Already

This song in particular is a great example of what was going on throughout the album: they rap the verses, sing the chorus, and float a bunch of other bits and pieces around those main sections to really make the track an impressive little slice of three-minute pop. A few years back, this cut was on heavy rotation in my stereo, and I never shy away from returning to it.

Better Already - Synthy-Jagged Guitar
The synthy-jagged guitar, intro that starts the song off is intentionally panned hard to the left speaker—not only to mellow it out a bit, but also to leave room for the vocals, bass, and drums that kick in just after it cycles through once. While you might initially think that the guitar is going to lead the charge Click to read the rest…

Here’s an excellent post from the home-recording site, Hometracked, on how to avoid that ‘amateur sound’ when recording music:

10 Hallmarks of Amateur Recordings

Anyone who’s tried recording music themselves will know the frustration – you spend hours working away and getting your mix right, and then come back to it the next day or next week and it just sounds… unprofessional. Even worse if somebody else comments on it!

It can be very difficult to put your finger on what exactly is holding you back – is it the equipment? Something about the way you’re mixing? The performances you recorded? You can hear that something’s not right, but what is it?

Well, wonder no more – Des over at Hometracked has put together this excellent list of common problems which can contribute to that ‘amateur’ sound. They won’t all be relevant to every track you struggle with, but I guarantee that some will make you say “Ah! That’s what it was!”

An excellent set of tips for those just getting started in home recording, and a handy reference checklist for when you’re working on a track. As time goes on, you can train your ears to listen out specifically for these problems, until they jump out at you on first listen. At this point, you can be confident you’ll never turn out a track which suffers from these amateurish indicators again!