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[ Download all demo mp3s in .ZIP file ] 01 Theme [Original Tape Experiment] "Theme" arose one day in 2002 when I fired up our digital 8-track to listen to some demo recordings of FTNS songs. Bits from several different songs were recorded on the disk on parallel tracks. Forgetting this, I pressed play with all 8 faders up and was momentarily disoriented -- but soon excited -- by the oddly sonorous overlap of the disparate compositions. This edit of the original six-minute accident forms the foundation of the final version. For the album, we overdubbed more dense and persistent sounds onto the first minute and a half, but let the samples from the original experiment take precedence as the structure crumbles. 02 For Light Sleepers [Mike Gets A Synth Idea] I keep a little micro-cassette recorder by my bed to capture fleeting song ideas. When a little notion springs to mind I hum it into the little mic, or approximate it on a guitar if one is near. It really sounds much better on a synthesizer, wouldn't you say? 03 For Light Sleepers [Bare Intro - Early Demo] In the making of FTNS we discovered the joys of more richly arranging a passage of music (most notably with more defined melodies) to bring out its potential. At the time of this early demo, in mid-late 2001, we were perfectly contented with the trio arrangement of organ, guitar and drums. Eventually we added a synthesizer lead, bass, lead guitar, programmed drums, hand claps and synthesized mallet percussion. 04 Midway [Ambient Interlude - Early Demo] This is taken from a live run-through of "Midway" from a practice in 2001, recorded with one indiscriminately placed microphone, as was the practice with most of these demos. We sampled the chiming loop and some of Alex's guitar from this recording on the final album version. 05 Rose Is Red [Downtempo Exploration] On an autumn afternoon in 2002 I introduced the skeleton of "Rose Is Red" to the band and we hammered out most of the rest of the song inside the dim, cavernous garage. The collapse of the slow section in this improvisation appears amid other noises as the final version's exit. 06 Rose Is Red [Uptempo Exploration] The original uptempo conclusion of "Rose Is Red," heard in our live performances of the song in 2002-2003, was formalized from our favorite parts of this particularly ferocious excursion which directly followed the downtempo exploration during a practice. It was subsequently one of the two major stretches of the album to be excised, due to its overbearing resemblance to the music of certain bands from Montreal. 07 Twenty Years [Early Demo] Recorded during a practice sometime in 2001, I overdubbed the bassline shortly after and three years later wrote a violin part. This demo features several measures of distorted chords which were later replaced by a single-note part which only slightly mitigated the bombast we intended to temper. 08 Muscle-Tough This, Weezie [Pianoless Outro - Early Demo] After recording the originally conceived three-piece outro for "Weezie," I felt it needed a kick in the crotch. So I wrote a piano part and modified the guitar to fit accordingly. This demo sounds "better" than most of the others because it was recorded during a brief, quixotic phase in 2002, in which we resolved to capture approximate versions of the entire album on our 8-track to hand to a producer/engineer who would help us capture the FTNS vision at John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone studios in San Francisco. Needless to say that never happened. But here is the last segment of "Weezie" in its original incarnation of Alex on guitar, Arthur on drums and myself on bass. 09 Ten Pieces [Outtake - Original Ending] Axing the original ending of "Ten Pieces" was a difficult move, but one met with full agreement. As with other wanting passages of the album, we attempted to overhaul the 5/4 piano section with programmed drums, new keyboard melodies and modified guitar parts. In the end we weren't sufficiently confident that it warranted inclusion on the album. Yet here it is, the version that almost made the record. 10 Response [Original Improvisation] A Boss DD-5 delay pedal can record and playback a loop up to two seconds in length. After cuing up a scrap of distorted guitar, I hopped over to the organ while Alex and Arthur held down the rhythm section of our freshly extemporized piece. We set up a mic and pressed 'record' halfway through, and the result was this nine-minute recording in which musical satellites came into alignment often enough to inspire us to craft the more structured version on FTNS. This recording dates to sometime in 2002.
Robert and Karen: Alex Culang Arthur Culang Michael Ulrich Ryan Santos plays organ on tracks 5 and 6. Cover image by John Acquadro.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License. |
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