motel void

CONFLICT AT SERENITY POOLS – rosey dream i

Writing and recording process:

I started the idea of rosey dream i by sampling a cassette I found from my dad’s collection that was just labeled “dance”. It had a bunch of stuff from funk to breaks, things I’ve never heard of and couldnt identify; the break for rosey dream i comes from this sampling process. Then I came up with a sort of metal like guitar riff over it that reminded me of like those mid to late 90s bands (I’ve been revisiting korn and garbage a lot lately lol), and then on that foundation I recorded the more mellow jangly track that it is. But the foundation is a bit more pronounced on the second version of the track rosey dream ii which is coming out with the EP.

CASP plans
Plans for 2024 are more music. Currently writing some songs on my friend’s borrowed acoustic and it’s been really fun so I think there’s probably an album coming that’s based on this process. And then I found my old family digital 8 camcorder and am planning on shooting a little film that will showcase some casp live sets both acoustic and more electronic as well as just some moments between me and some of my friends who have collaborated, hoping to then build off of this and book some live shows 😊 I’m also curating a playlist called “remember, you are the traffic” which is a biweekly every Thursday list of 8 tracks I’m really into at the moment— it’s been a fun way to make sure I’m listening and finding new music, and a fun way to express as well. You can find that on our Spotify page. It’s usually curated with this idea of sitting in traffic in la. And then gardening and rain collection! Painting home projects working etc.

Interview w/ CASP from 2023

DEAD BANDIT – Peel Me an Orange

Writing and recording process:

Ellis: Peel Me an Orange started with a late-night guitar loop. In my delusions, I filed this away titled “jeff parker”.

Written next was the big muff fuzz/drone intro. Must have had Body/Head and mbv on a playlist. Besides the layered guitars, it has this funny Yamaha 1980s psr-27 keyboard with stained yellow teeth, pumped through guitar pedals.

Part 2: The first 20 seconds of this section has a Papa M vibe, but the tremolo guitar is owed to Pops Staples. We almost took this first 20 seconds out; Rufus thought it should go back in. We show him skeleton versions of tracks, he’s has a good ear and offers suggestions and gentle critiques.

James: For Peel Me an Orange, Ellis sent me the gorgeous beginning noise section and the middle jangly guitar part as well as some loop blocks for the last part. I arranged these loop blocks into tracks I could record over and added layers of guitar and drums. I then sent these back to Ellis who chopped up the ending, added all three parts together and Peel Me an Orange was born.

Ellis: A time warp this 2nd part, but with the luxury/smoke and mirrors of digital editing. It’s a very colorful wall of guitar and noise, a reward for those who make it through the first 2 minutes.
For the last 30 seconds the psr-27 and Pops Staples guitar are brought back in, covered in a little bit of the fading fuzz, with the original guitar loop flipped upside down closing it out. Wonderfully mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.

Interview w/ Dead Bandit from 2023

DILUTE_CALICO98 – grimm

LISTEN: GRIMM ON SPOTIFY

“Grimm is the only song on the release that wasn’t entirely recorded on my ipad, I wrote the first half of the song with the electronic drums in one night and then when I went to finish it the following week I realized I wanted the end to be more of a live band set up so I used my headrush pedalboard thing to record the guitar, and a simple 3 mic set up to track the drums. I’d say the biggest inspiration for this one was a band I used to be in with my friend John called all the marbles, he wrote some really nice guitar parts for those songs and I thought about it a lot when I was writing Grimm.”

(more like 4.25:))

Interview w/ dilute_calico98 from 2023