Grappa is the solo project of Matthew Dingee with assistance from Ron Harrity and Eric Eggert. Ron and Rob Goldrick record as Nord Express for Slumberland Records. Ron is a founding member of the Harpswell Sound. You can find him at the super fine ideaofnorth.
"Designer Ecology" is the first release from Grappa and is available from Tonevendor and the iTunes Music Store.
There is a one sheet if you are interested in all of the details.
The packaging
Finally (!), as promised: The packaging. The short answer: jewelboxing.com, a friend who is an excellent graphic designer, blank CDs you can print onto, new Epson ink jet, lots of trips to the printer for laser printed inserts = Grappa release. The long answer: the packaging isn't the gating factor.
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Selecting a medium
Since I started textilesounds I have been looking for ways to release music quickly and cheaply. Unfortunately, neither has come to pass. The first release, a clear, 180 gram vinyl 12" in a clear vinyl bag was just about the most expensive and extensive route to take. However, it was important to make the first release count. With the second and third releases I went with a stock sleeve design that was then letter-pressed with the name of the band and the title of the release. The purpose of a stock sleeve however is that it may be used for any release. It usually identifies the label and nothing else and is quite popular for dance music labels. I had intended to have stamps made and to stamp the covers but the allure of the letterpress went right to my wallet. So now I have a closet full of "stock sleeves" that are specific to their releases. Duh. In retrospect, I might have been able to do a combination of stamps and letterpress and then had blank sleeves left over for future releases. But it occurred to me as those releases were being made that vinyl was just too expensive for me to continue to do in spite of my efforts to economize.
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The recording process, part II: the secret weapon
Cary Roberts made some modifications to this guitar pedal and then let me try try it out. He gave me a photocopy of the original settings and told me that he modified most if not all of the sounds. There were a few settings I liked but one in particular made this amazing noise when I wasn't playing anything at all. I really enjoy gear that acts on its own.
I became so enamored with this particular setting that I decided to try nearly every instrument in the house through the pedal.
Continue reading "The recording process, part II: the secret weapon" »
The recording process
In the first of what I hope will not be a terribly embarrassing or worthless collection of information regarding the process of creating and releasing the new Grappa CD I'll write a bit about recording "Designer Ecology". Grappa started back in Ron Harrity's Oakland apartment, specifically his closet. Ron and Rob (of Nord Express fame) converted what had been a beauty salon store front into an apartment/practice space. We recorded two tracks and a bunch of drums over a weekend in the narrow studio closet. Those drum tracks can be heard on "The water beggar". I played Ron brief snippets of the guitar parts and he came up with those drum bits. We recorded the drums onto an 8 track ADAT and then I loaded them into Pro Tools over a light pipe connection. That was back in 2002.
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What's in a name
The title of the first Grappa release, "Designer Ecology", jumped out at me when I was looking over this small booklet I picked up in Tokyo called "Designer's Week". It accompanied a collection of art exhibits going on in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. The highlight of this particular year was a container exhibit. I desperately wanted to see the containers because I had read in Brian Eno's diary a description of him preparing for something very similar. By the way, while I have not finished Eno's diary I highly recommend it. Very entertaining reading.