guitars and guests

I wish I had a smart phone. Or a 'smarter' phone at least... one with a decent camera. One that I could take real photos with and post them on the internet for all the world to see. Alas... perhaps one day soon, but until then I will cling to my ancient flip phone with worn out keys, and text my life away in T9.

I wish I had such a phone so I could take a photo of the mess that is the FOLSUR studio right now. Guitars and effects pedals are strewn across the control room with amps in every corner keeping keyboards and other toys company. Cables. Cables. And more cables. Today was a fun filled day of cutting guitars for the new record 'Where My Communist Hear Meets My Capitalist Mind.' Tracking is progressing very well... 7 of 10 tracks are fully complete, and the 3 remaining, while having a heavy amount of work in front of them are defined with vision... we know where these are going. At least in this very moment we know... it might very well change (it always does)... but for now, there is a vision and we are chasing it.

My favorite chain of toys today... gibson les paul classic (with a classic 59 pickup installed in the bridge) through VHT valvulator (for line buffering), through fulldrive bass drive (for overdrive), through line 6 DL4 (for slap back delay), through xotic effects RC Boost (for well... thunderous goodness), through Dunlop Jimi Hendrix octave fuzz (for you guessed it, octave fuzz), through Boss RV 3 reverb/delay (for an oversaturated and lush verb), through a Sewell Texaplex 25, through a Top Hat 2x12 extension cab (loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's). That is for all the guitar folk out there who just might wanna know.

I also spent the evening listening through some tracks that a very special (and for the time being very secret) guest sent over our way... her voice is amazing, angelic and inspiring. I cannot wait to place her parts in the mix of this song... it's going to be lovely, just lovely.

LAng

things and stuff and such

We are going to start updating this blog more often... I promise. I know I say that most every time that I write a blog on here... but its the truth, for real this time, I resolve to speak with more consistency and do so with little or no abbreviation. It only seems natural you know... I mean on twitter you have what, only like 140 characters or something? what can you really say in 140 characters? Well... actually a great deal... but truth be told, I like being able to write and not have to modify every 3rd word. Now don't get me wrong, I think twitter and its brethren are wonderful means of communication, and I/we use twitter, etc a great deal... but I admittedly really do so enjoy writing and reading full sentences (on most occasions that is).

A short number of years ago when I was finishing my undergrad degree at UT I wrote a thesis on the various linguistic trends that I found within specific online social networking groups. I'm sure that sounds like a terrible bore to most of you... but well... it was (and still is for that matter) fascinating to me... watching language shift and change as culture and means of communication morph as well... both feeding one another in an odd but predictable circular type of growth.

REGARDLESS... the point that is... had twitter been as heavily used as a communication tool then as it is now, I probably would not have been a happy English student. My thesis was 100 pages long (single spaced 12 point times new roman font)... if twitter had been as prevalent in those days... it would have been at least 1000 pages... just to much to say, to much to research, to many conclusions to draw. I would have never have had any time to write any songs. So I guess it could be said that the delayed popularity of twitter saved my college career and my songwriting. So, thanks to Jack Dorsey and his comrades for delaying their networking brilliance. My diploma and I thank you.

Well ok, speaking of twitter and abbreviations... we are in the process of recording a new record called "Where My Communist Heart Meets My Capitalist Mind." Now, the preceeding EP was called "My Communist Heart" and reasonably so, that got abbreviated to "MCH." What do you think the full length should be referred to? I mean... WMCHMMCM is a little lengthy don't you think? I'm at a bit of a loss so the suggestion box is open.

FREE stuff? All You Wanted acoustic version!

So we decided to record a stripped down, nakedly acoustic version of our song 'All You Wanted' (which you may or may not have heard featured on the CW's The Vampire Diaries) ... and we would like to give it to you... For FREE. Yes... it's a gift from us to you :) Click the link below and it will lead you to a download page, enjoy and please let us know what you think!

LAng- Sounds Under Radio

http://soundsunderradio1.bandcamp.com/

Hey new friends and old friends... visit www.soundsunderradio.com or click HERE
to check out new material from Sounds Under Radio. 'All You Wanted' from the Vampire Diaries, our new EP 'My Communist Heart' as well as our first record 'Cinematica'!

LAng- sounds under radio

All You Wanted LYRICS

So a lot of folks have been asking tonight... and we are happy to oblige. Here are the lyrics to the new Sounds Under Radio song 'All You Wanted' featured on the CW's 'Vampire Diaries'. enjoy :)

All You Wanted

I am the fold, in the wake

Watch me push her back and break

I lose all my friends, and wash away

All the fractures I’ve displayed

But we still, hold on

Cause it was

All you wanted

And all I needed

But all I gave up, now

Could you hold me tighter

When worlds collide

Just hold me down right now

All these lines, in the air

I don’t know if anyone would care

I’m losing my friends, in the wave

Of all these fragments I can’t fake

But we still, hold on

Cause it was

All you wanted

And all I needed

But all I gave up, now

Could you hold me tighter

When worlds collide

Just hold me down right now

Pull me in

Drown my fear

Could you wait another day,

knowing that I’ll come back

I’ll come back… no fear

Cause it was

All you wanted

And all I needed

But all I gave up, now

Could you hold me tighter

When worlds collide

Just hold me down right now

My Communist Heart... and Vampires

Wow... what a whirlwind of a few weeks. SXSW music festival in Austin came and went in a wild and lonestar filled blur. Amazing and exhausting time as always. We played a handful of shows... an acoustic show at One2One Bar, got to strip the songs down for a soft rocking set, our official showcase at Buffalo Billiards was off the hook. We were a bit frightened that the Muse show at Stubbs just down the block would hurt our attendance, but we were pleasantly suprised with the turnout. So thanks to all that made it out. We also played an outdoor show for Study Breaks Magazine on what had to have been the coldest spring day in SX history. It went from mid 80's the day before to 30's that afternoon and evening. And yes... we played outdoors. Still a wonderful show though. Saw a thousand good bands, got to catch up with a lot of friends and bands we generally only see out on the road. all in all, grande time at sxsw. I slept for 2 days straight once it was over.

The next major event... MY COMMUNIST HEART finally arrived and was released for public consumption on April 2nd. People are really responding to the new material... and that is wonderfully exciting for us! We spent a lot of time locked away in dark windowless rooms writing and recording that thing... so it's amazing for us to finally get to share it with everyone!

Release shows in Houston, San Antonio (our second home) and Austin (the good ole hometown) went smashingly... just smashingly. Thanks to all that came out, sang along (how many of you already know the words to the new material I can only assume... haha), bought a copy of the new EP, talked, shared and everything... you are simply amazing. Thank for all the support. You can get the new EP through any online retailer really... go to www.soundsunderradio.com for links.

what else... ok... we spent a day shooting a new video for the song 'Effigy' with the wonderful fellas from Papertanks Productions. Jeff and Jon Ray are geniuses. The video goes to post production soon and should be available to check out soooooon. Keep your eyes pealed.

Oh oh oh... last but not least VAMPIRES! So we had the good fortune several weeks ago to have our song 'Portrait of a Summer Thief' from Cinematica featured on the CW's 'The Vampire Diaries'. This week (TONIGHT actually) another New and Unreleased Sounds Under Radio song titled 'All You Wanted' will be featured on the show in its ENTIRETY during the end sequence of the episode. It's been a pretty insane week putting that together and turning the track around for the show, and we couldn't be more happy with it. just a week ago 'All You Wanted' was merely a demo waiting to be considered for the next Sounds Under Radio record. But when the good folks at TVD called and told us what they were looking for for this end of this episode... 'All You Wanted' seemed to be a perfect match, and after hearing the song they agreed. So, make sure to watch tonight (Thursday April 8 2010 at 8/7central on the CW) and/or download the track for a limited time through Itunes. click here -- http://tinyurl.com/ycbapyr

Ok, more updates soon... be on the look out for tour dates near you, new music and all that fun stuff!

My Communist Heart

Greetings all! Ya, sooo it's a mighty fine time for an update I'de say... very long overdue. Best way to catch everyone up to the recent haps is probably to check out this interview I did with the Austin Music Examiner last week about the forthcoming Sounds Under Radio release 'My Communist Heart' (on shelves, instores and available online March 30). Keep checking back here, at www.soundsunderradio.com or on myspace/facebook pages for new info about the release... when you'll be able to sample new things... tour dates supporting the new record... etc etc etc. We've been undercover for a bit working on this new record... but we have emerged. New things very soon. Until then... check out info about the new release here below- LAng

Lang Freeman of Sounds Under Radio talks being different in a changing industry

January 18, 4:02 PMAustin Music ExaminerBecky West

Austin band Sounds Under Radio has had a very busy studio year in 2009 working on a brand new album called “Where My Communist Heart Meets My Capitalist Mind” which will be released in two E.P.’s and later a full length album. Front man Lang Freeman talks with Austin Music Examiner about how the band is striving to stay different in an ever changing music industry.

Austin Music Examiner: What can be expected from the first of the two E.P.’s, “My Communist Heart,”set to release in late March?

Lang Freeman: Well... one of the goals with recording this record was to create something that was larger and more grand than anything we’ve ever done before... yet at the same time more create something more delicate and more intimate, and I do feel like we were successful in achieving that. With the recording of our first record 'Cinematica' we were still a band becoming... a band learning what and who we were going to be as artists all through the process of making a record... this record on the other hand differs in that we started with a foundational musical identity, but the challenge for ourselves was to grow from there, expand the framework, push our own boundaries as musicians, songwriters, artists and people in general. What we found was something very reflective of where we had been and what we had experienced the year prior both personally and professionally. There is far more angst, aggression and angularity in this new record... but it's balanced and juxtaposed by some far more delicate and what we feel very beautiful things. It's a record about finding those balances.

Austin Music Examiner: What can be expected from the second E.P. “My Capitalist Mind” to be released later in the year?

Lang Freeman: So the second EP, planned for release later this year, is really going to be an extension and conclusion of sorts to the 'My Communist Heart' EP. The two pieces were written to be one continuous movement... we write song singularly yes, but our natural tendency as writers is to write in a themed record format. That's how we feel we can best express the things we are trying to say. I love the drama of a full length record that takes you somewhere from song 1 to song 10... and this was our goal for writing this record. A themed element, a thread that made the album a compositional and unified whole. So... the second EP can almost be considered a second act... the time between the releases as somewhat of a theatrical intermission. Like I said, we're drawn to the dramatic elements of records and the sense of theater that a great record can create... and in my mind, what better way to create that drama than to have a strongly definable and hard set spot to breath in the middle? That was the concept.

Austin Music Examiner: Will a full length be released out of these two E.P.’s? If so, what can be expected from that combination?

Lang Freeman: Yes yes, yes... the plan is most definitely to at some point release the 2 EP's as a fully realized and combined album that is 'Where My Communist Heart Meets My Capitalist Mind'. We have a good number of ideas for that combination floating around and we're still sorting through them all honestly... though the core plan is to combine some elements of visual arts and other multimedia to the package so that the record is not just simply the 2 EP's stitched together. The plan is for something much more... not just your normal record... we want to build an experience for the listener that goes far beyond the normal "put CD in player or iPod and press play" experience. We are very much in to exploring the combinations of artistic medium... and we're going to try to use the full length release as a palate or canvas for that.

Austin Music Examiner: What was the idea behind the concept of releasing an album in two parts/two E.P.’s and then combining them?

Lang Freeman: Well, the modern music industry is a very changed place these days... in a certain sense it's frightening at times because really... there are no more standards and there are no more steadfast rules as to how ones is supposed to go about releasing their music... but in that, it's also a completely liberating and and exciting place to be. It's a wonderfully open ended environment for independent bands and artists to release things and reach people in completely different and unique ways, we're no longer locked in to 'record cycles' and standard formats for release. It's actually quite an inspired time in the industry if you can look at it optimistically. So with that all in mind we decided to try something different with the release or with these releases as it may be of 'Where My Communist Heart Meets My Capitalist Mind'... we write, record and appreciate the full length LP record format... but we wanted to go about presenting that in a different way this time. We are not reinventing the wheel by any means... but we're exploring different ways to reach people and different avenues to get new music to our fans with consistency while giving new ears a chance to hear and experience what we do.

Austin Music Examiner: What was the idea and inspiration behind the titles of these releases?

Lang Freeman: Well, the titles of each EP really serve the greater conceptual good of the combined record... yes, this is a album about politics, but is neither about domestic/ international affairs nor about communism or capitalism directly for that matter... it’s about people, and the internal politics of the self. This is an album about the HEAD versus the HEART... and how we as individuals choose to cope with their agreements and their disagreements, and what happens when they either align or don't. It's about how we try to influence them, and then all the successes and setbacks we can find at each turn. The head and heart often rest in polar opposition for whatever reason.... yet can in the right moments blissfully align. This record is about how those things affect us and those around us, those that we love and those that love us... and ultimately what that struggle does to us as people, what it does to the self and what it does to the relationships we build. This record is in a sense a dialog speaking to that struggle and the things we learn and discover from it.

Austin Music Examiner: What can be expected to be seen from Sounds Under Radio in 2010 besides the new releases?

Lang Freeman: Touring touring touring. We've been on the road consistently for the last few years and we are eager to get back to say the least. The process of recording a record is a time consuming and arduous one... it’s a labor of love no doubt but it keeps you stationary. So, in that labor we are excited about taking these new songs and presenting them to audiences in the best way that we know how... by performing live. So for 2010 you can expect us to be releasing these EP's and record, touring like madmen, writing new songs, recording new songs and trying to reach people in any way that we can.

Look for Sounds Under Radio to be under "Austin Examiner Band Watch" in 2010 as this band continues to put their signature touches on the Austin Music industry. Keep updated on band news from their myspace www.myspace.com/soundsunderradio. Many thanks to Lang Freeman for his time with this interview.