The Mooninites - Gentlemen Behold! (2003)

Continuing with this series of records from a few years ago I bring you the second Mooninites album.

I guess I should first explain that the mooninites were a band formed during the summer of 2003 by Zach Smola, Travis Knowles and myself. We recorded intermittently, (as each of us attended a different college in Georgia) completing three albums in a year, playing one show at the UGA radio station, and leaving at least three albums unfinished to this day (which makes me think I should cobble those together at some point). Due to the atmospheric nature of the music and its lack of vocals, many of the tracks were used by fellow art students I knew at SCAD to score various video projects they made.

The mooninites never officially broke up or anything, we just all got busy and stopped going out of our way to make time to play together.

In any case, I like this record. Travis and I were nineteen years old at this time and Zach was only eighteen. We did it all at my Dad's house in Fayetteville Georgia during Christmas break that year.

Credits:

Composed, Produced and Recorded by the Mooninites

Mixed by Ben Collins

-Zach Smola played most of the guitars but also other things.

-Travis Knowles played most of the bass parts and many of the keyboards and other things

-Ben Collins played all of the drums as well as some keys, tape manipulation and noise and other things


Featured on the last track are Joe McNeill on Trombone, Jessica Calleiro on Clarinet and Mike Flemming on strings


1. Luke Song Title Go!
2. Battle Royale pt. 1
3. Luxury Travis
4. Burning Cars
5. Teeth, Wisdom
6. Deaf Jam
7. Closer


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Oh yeah, there is a very old and barely updated mooninites myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/themooninites

Oh and again if anybody actually downloads any of these albums, please leave a comment or something just so that I know if I truly am writing this to no one (I am).

TK&BC - "Radio Edit"

Yesterday's post got me nostalgic for other times where TK and I have jammed as a duo. So I decided to post this unheard gem. This half-hour long session was done in the same day that most of the LIGHTSNAKE material was recorded. This is basically us doing a kind of DJ set, I'm operating a minidisc player and a delay pedal and Travis is messing with filters and effects and stuff.

It's very loud and noisy and features a wide array of popular songs being mutilated live on the spot.

recorded in May 2006



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Dixieland Teenbeat Spiritual Waltz

Shortly after purchasing my four-track cassette recorder in the summer 2004 I had a very strange weekend where I traveled to Savannah and then to St. Augustine Florida and purchased two upright organs. My good friend Travis 'TK' Knowles was vacationing in Florida and called me to tell me about a thrift store with several organs for sale, each with a price tag of $50. He wanted to purchase one but had no way of driving it back to Atlanta. He sheepishly asked if there was anyway I could come to St. Augustine and drive the organ home in the back of my Ford Ranger. Looking back I can only say that it must have been 'just that kind of day.' So I drove there, met TK and we went to the store. The proprietor recognized Travis and saw the opportunity for a sale, he saw me and decided it could be a double. "Two for $75," he said. "Sold," we said. We strapped the organs into the back of my truck as best we could and I took to road. Under constant threat of rain, I gritted my teeth through what turned out to be the worst drive of my life. After several failed attempts at covering the organs I decided the best course of action was to constantly rebuke the sky, in full shout, with no one to hear but me and God. Eventually I arrived safely at home and with both organs intact.

A few days later we recorded this album.

It is all improv, Travis is in the right channel and I am in the left.

enjoy.

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SFCD - Sketchbook (Summer 2004)

As often seems to happen to people who record music, today I came across a box of tapes that I had not seen in a while. It contained mainly tapes of weird stuff that was recorded three and four, sometimes even five, years ago.

As to be expected, some of this stuff is so embarrassing I dare not even speak of it, but some of it is surprising to me.

This tape was the first one I made when I purchased my tascam four-track back in 2004. It is an odd collection of random stuff I recorded. As far as I can remember I am playing all of it with the exception of the viola at end which was played by my friend (and former member of the now defunct band "I Would Set Myself on Fire for you") Lindsey Harbour.

I am pleased with the discovery of this tape and if you listen to it I hope that you will be as well.


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Post Script: I will likely continue with a few more of these "Archival" posts. I have some other stuff from 2003 and 2004. Expect at least "Dixieland Teenbeat Spiritual Waltz" the dueling organ record Travis Knowles and I did, and probably the "last tape" from Homeless Joe Navarro, the dead free-folk, stoner improv band I was in during my freshman year in Savannah.

Black Thirteen - Plate Tekroniks

hello friends,

Another Black thirteen album, a rather band-like one this time. With drums and bass and guitars and all that. It was recorded in Wesley's garage sometime in early 2007 or late 2006, and though I think everything on the record is good, it still stings a little to hear because that night we fell victim to quite a bit of equipment malfunction. For whatever reason the minidisc recorder kept shutting off in the middle of recording. So at some point we completed our session only to realize that about half of it did not take, and so we played for much longer than we intended to and in a sort of bad mood because everyone had liked what we had done.

But in the end I think we got it all back and finished probably just as good as we had before, only I'll never truly know that for sure.

All music improvised collectively by: Ben Collins (drums, guitars)
Joe McNeill (bass, guitars)
Wesley Rose (Guitars, drums)
Simon Sharp (Vocals, guitars)

1. Cut Off
2. Dark Lolita
3. Going On
4. Truth and Treason
5. Blood Red Dress


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Black Thirteen - Guitar Duets

The title is pretty self-explanatory, this album has two tracks and each is a duet of two guitar players.

Recorded over two nights at my Dad's house in Fayetteville GA last year in January.


1. Moonshine blind (played by Joe McNeill and Ben Collins)
2. Somewhere Shadows are moving (played by Simon Sharp and Ben Collins)


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SFCD - Consideration

Hello friends,

Two in one day!


Another solo guitar and voice record. Probably recorded in Savannah, although I couldn't be sure.

I don't remember much about what was going on when I recorded this and the titles of some of the songs are bewildering, especially the fifty-one second gem album closer "Trapped Moment by the River." What that means and where that song came from is a complete mystery to this day.

All songs by Ben collins.

1. Personal
2. Never had a chance
3. When the Wine runs out
4. I'm still okay
5. Trapped moment by the river
6. Slate



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SFCD - arewerewill

hello friends,

So With this new post I give you all an old album, two years old anyway. I haven't really heard it in quite a awhile, but Jessica told me the other day that it is one of her favorites of mine, so I thought it would be worth putting up.

This album is called "arewerewill" and it is the first album of solo guitar and voice improvisation I ever made. And so could be seen as the genesis of much of the other music on this blog.

Enjoy.

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DETH(gate)(cat)PEOPLE

For anyone who was aware of the existence of this recording: I know that it is long overdue for a post and for that I am sorry.

But here finally is the epic collaboration of Deth Gate and Cat People known as DETH PEOPLE! What we did was the two bands set up in two rooms in my house and with Jon Lynn conducting us, we improvised, sometimes able to hear the other band and sometimes not.

The microphone was placed in the kitchen at approximately equal distance between the two bands and although the sound bounces all over the place one can roughly discern Cat People on the left and Deth Gate on the right. I had planned for a more extensive mix of this recording, utilizing multiple mic set-ups throughout the house, but at this point some of that material has been lost. There may be another mix at some point, but for now I think this will suffice.







Cast and Crew:

Deth Gate = Stephen Zerbe on keys and stuff and Coley Brown on drums

Cat People = Jessica Calleiro on drums and Ben Collins on guitar

Recorded by: Ben Collins

Conducted by: Jon Lynn

get it here:


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Black Thirteen - Fairweather&Tune

Hello again,

Today I have an interesting Black Thirteen album, or albums called Fairweather&Tune. It actually is two albums but they were recorded two days in a row and on the same minidisc, so upon playback they felt like one album and so they are presented here separate but together. They are intended to be listened to as either a one album or two, it is completely up to you.

Both feature the same lineup of Wesley Rose, Simon Sharp and Ben Collins (me) which is quickly becoming the standard Black Thirteen lineup, and I'm totally fine with that.

We are in top form on these discs. If I remember correctly these were recorded in spring of 2007 and at that time we hadn't recorded in a month or two so we were pretty keen to get some stuff out of our collective system.

Fairweather features both Simon and Wesley on guitars the whole time with me playing a drum and a recorder for some of it until eventually forsaking them for an acoustic guitar as well.

And Tune features all of us on acoustic guitars.

We are happy with these and somewhere I have video footage of us playing Fairweather, so maybe that will be posted as well one day.

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Black Thirteen - Awake and Asong

Ahhh, the namesake of this blog.

This album was an early record featuring the "classic" Black Thirteen lineup of Wesley, Simon and I. I think this was actually the album recorded immediately following Whiskey and Honey but don't quote me on that.

This record features the same setup as Whiskey and Honey, which is Simon in the center on the electric and Wesley and I on the right and left, respectively, with acoustic guitars.

It is a long album and mostly instrumental, but for me it is one of the most listenable albums we have. The third track is specifically of note, at thirty-three minutes it has several distinct movements beginning with Simon's solo electric guitar noise and ending with some kind of traditional sounding jam ostensibly titled "Blood-red Dress" that became the first Black Thirteen song that we were able to replicate on a later album, (the as yet to be un-posted Plate Tekroniks).

So enjoy, and if you listen to it please comment so I know if I really am talking to nobody here.



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Black Thirteen - Grounds of PLEASURE

As far as I know this is the only Black Thirteen album not featuring founding member Simon Sharp. If I remember correctly he had a test or a doctor's appointment or some thing else not very punk to do in the morning and so he couldn't play that night.

Wesley Rose and myself are on the album as is Joe McNeill, in (I think) his third Black Thirteen appearance. And joining the band for the first time is Ben Hurst. Ben is a very talented guitarist and songwriter who went to high school with us and afterward promptly moved to Arizona. He was back in town for the holidays and so we invited him to play.

With the involvement of both Joe and Ben the album has a bluesier flavor than the band has had on previous albums, to what is, I think, an interesting effect.

I'm honestly not sure who is playing what on every song. I know for certain that I played drums on the first two tracks, so based on what I hear and remember I will guess that:

Joe played acoustic on tracks 1 and 2, and electric on 3 and 4.

Wes played acoustic on tracks 1 and 2 and drums on 3 and 4

Ben Hurst played electric on 1 and 2 and acoustic on 3 and 4

Ben Collins played drums on 1 and 2 and acoustic on 3 and 4



It is a long album, but I think a rewarding experience.

Enjoy.


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SFCD - Something Else, Something Black

This was an album for a friend that died. It obviously has sentimental value for me, but I think it is a decent record as well.

1. Up to Some Good
2. Cooped Up
3. More Than I Meant to Say
4. Too Soon Whenever
5. My Love of Grey
6. Ride
7. 23
8. Slate Nov. 27

All songs played by me: Ben Collins

Dedicated to my friend Picasso.

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Random cool news

I am very excited about music and this blog. I received this is sudden surge of excitement yesterday after I had emailed Hiroyuki Usui of the band L and he actually responded to me!



For anybody who doesn't know Hiro was in Fushitsusha with Keiji Haino at some point and later made the album Holy Letters under the band name L. He has done a few things since, but most are difficult to find here in the states. Holy Letters was reissued recently thanks to enthusiasm from Ben Chasny of Six Organs and last year Chasny and Hiro made an album of through-the-mail collaborations under the name August Born, this album rules as well. Both of these albums have been very important to me and have certainly effected the aesthetic of this blog.

I had emailed him randomly and he responded and now he is mailing me some more records and I will be mailing him some things, some of which are things posted on this blog!

Black Thirteen - Firesteed

Finally a new post! Well for anyone who is keeping track I believe this will be the fifth Black Thirteen album to be posted here and the second in what I am starting to consider the "classic" lineup, meaning it features Simon Sharp, Wesley Rose and myself.

The album is titled Firesteed, named after the brand of wine we were drinking while playing that night. I think it is a pretty good album, with a nice balance of different sorts of playing and singing throughout. But for me the best thing about this record is that simultaneous to our playing, on the other side of town, our friends Travis and Martina gave birth to their son Odin Benjamin Knowles. So this album is dedicated to him and hopefully one day he can listen to it and appreciate that his father had a bunch of lazy friends who sat around drinking and recording improv folk music instead of getting up at a decent hour and having real jobs.

So here's the tracklist:

1. Sing for You
2. Don't Go Down
3. Two Hand Blues
4. Call Me Back
5. Never
6. Always Dancing
7. Baby

Simon and Wesley played guitars, and I think sometimes Simon's was electric. I played Banjo. We all sing at different times.


download link

Archives

Thanks to Lars' comment on my previous entry I am currently in the process of uploading all the records on archive.org

So far I have put up two of the SFCD records, The Brood and You Don't Need To check out their original posts for the links.

Also I should say that I am going to try really hard to catch up with this thing. I was on a roll there for a while and I have neglected this blog for a few months, I'm sorry and I will try to get more albums posted up soon.

updating

Hello,

It's been a while since I posted, and in that time most of the rapidshare links expired, so I am in the process of re-uploading all of the albums already listed and hopefully adding some new ones. Not that it really matters because nobody ever comes to this thing anyway...

DOLPHIN BEAM 5.5

Ah Dolphin Beam...






Those were the days.

We were so young and full of energy, it feels like it all happened a year or two ago... and yet it DID!!!!

Okay Dolphin Beam was founded in one way or another by: Colin Alexander, James Chapman, Ben Collins (me), Jon Lynn and Kevin Phillips. We used to play a lot of shows and it was fun and crazy. It was all improvised, as you will certainly be able to hear.

We haven't played in a while but in total I think we did like ten or so albums, a couple of them lost forever. This record was toward the end of our time being productive as a live band and the start of time as more of an album band.

Playing on this record are:

Colin Alexander: playing mostly clarinet, I think some percussion and probably some keyboards

Jon Lynn: Singing lead, playing mostly organ, and maybe percussion and he might even play clarinet at some point.

Kevin Phillips: playing the more strummed guitar stuff and percussion

Ben Collins: playing the more lead-ish guitar, recorder, some percussion, backing vocals, and keyboard at some point.

Colin recorded and mixed it



Tracks:

1. Here comes the fog
2. Ride the sky
3. The Dolphin rides again
4. The Hero's journey


Maybe one day The Dolphin truly will ride again... until that day we will console ourselves with glorious abstract, improv folk-pop of this album.


Download it here

LIGHTSNAKE

Two days in a row, a guess I'm on a roll.

Anyway, this album should have been posted up sooner. It was completed almost a year ago and has been waiting to be heard since then. LIGHTSNAKE is a record of noise music performed by Travis 'TK' Knowles and myself. I put those names in that order for a reason: this record is TK's baby and I am honored to have played on it, (by the way travis does have an actual 'baby' which can be viewed here).

The material that makes up this album was recorded in a few hours one afternoon at the now defunct Atlanta College of Art. I think I was on spring break, it was my senior year of college and I was downtown in Atlanta, I think, buying the last Liars album. Travis and I made plans to record some and I went by his school, (which at the time had a great sound lab full of analog syths). We jammed for a while on computers, synths, minidisc and delay pedal, and we got "the best falafel in town" at the a place in colony square. I don't remember which came first, the falafel or the jamming. It was all over very quickly and a few months later Travis gave me this record.

Some of it was recorded by him at a later date, and all of it was edited and mixed by him. So I don't think I am stroking my ego when I say I think it is amazing. It is dynamic and well structured, especially for a noise record. If you like noise I think you will dig it, and if you don't: I think you might be surprised.

Credits:

Travis 'TK' Knowles: Computer and electronics
Ben Collins: Minidisc, synth, and electronics

Recorded and mixed by Travis Knowles

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B. Davis Collins - Calm Sounds (for Molly)

So this one is a big change of pace for me. This album is one of the first of electronic compositions that I have completed in quite a while. Although electronic music was the first type of music I ever made I don't often finish an electronic album that I am pleased enough with to play for people.

But the circumstances surrounding this record are very different from other albums I have made. It all started when my friend and frequent collaborator Colin Alexander mentioned that his girlfriend Molly Evans (also my friend) had requested that he make some music for her to meditate to. I heard this and for whatever reason wanted in. Molly is a good friend of mine and the idea of making something just for her was appealing, also appealing was the idea of making music I wouldn't have made under other circumstances. And so a month later there is this album.

It is comprised of only rain sounds that I recorded and processed. I made it all on my computer, usually at night.

All sounds by Ben Collins

1. The Rain
2. The Ghost of the Rain.

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