Author Archive
With the new album "Wheel", just fresh out of the oven, NYC songwriter Laura Stevenson decided to up the production value, steering away from the lo-fi approach of her previous two albums. She enlisted producer Kevin McMahon, someone whose work she respected immensely and who would, as she put it, “be the perfect set of ears for these songs.” She also brought in Rob Moose on violin and Kelly Pratt to play brass, adding their own layers of depth to the band’s full arrangements. Despite the move to sleeker production, the album retains its organic nature, relying primarily on the resonance of acoustic instruments and the electricity of simply over-driven amplifiers, with its most synthetic moment coming from a Roland organ, an unconscious decision explained as Laura Stevenson and the Cans’ way of “being real, relying on each other’s energy to keep time and just playing the songs like human beings, flaws and all.”
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T. Jauernig Electronics, or TCJ Effects, is a small Wisconsin based manufacturer of hand made pedals that's been around since 2004. They just finalized the New "Amalgam" Smooth Overdrive. The company states that this pedal is very touch sensitive and smooth, working in the mild to moderate gain range. If you leave it on all the time it will affect the the gain from clean to mild, to thick and creamy all from the volume knob on your guitar. The Gain and Tone controls offer fine tuning to each rig. There is also a gain range toggle that allows to choose between two distinct gain ranges. There's only going to be 100 of these made in assorted colors, and their price will be $100 including delivery.... Click on the title for more
Emerging Canadian pedal manufacturer Stomp Labs released their first pedal Fuzzi-Fier (pictured), which will be part of a hybrid analog/digital line called XPressWay. This line aims at making stompboxes that can be controlled more efficiently during the performance - rather than in between songs. More info about the pedal will be released soon. The company is also working on an iPhone app that emulates their guitar pedals.... Click on the title for more
Here are a few short news about new pedal releases:
British hand manufacturer Green Carrots have a new baby: The Pumpkin Pi offers a double dose of Muff love with the IC78 Muff joined with the much sought after Russian Muff, a match made in heaven.
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Pedal Monsters is about to release their new reverb Well 2.0 Reverb (boards and component were ordered!). The price on this pox will be $135 when it's released, but the custom effect company is already selling it to believers for $110 including shipping (email pedalmonsters [at} gmail.com if interested). More info on their website.
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We've been wondering if Pigtronix was ever going to release a pedal for bass... well they just released 3!!! Check out the new line here and this fresh Philosopher Bass Compressor Official Demo:
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Blending the complex harmonies of The Beach Boys with the gritty aesthetics of the new millennium's bedroom pop, Sunglasses add a new chapter to the Brooklyn DIY scene - which they recently embraced after moving from Savannah, GA. Whereas most current Brooklyn bands have a tendency to flirt with the decadent, self-indulgent atmospheres of the East Coast and European bands of the '60s and '70s, the duo's debut full length "Wildlife" is a collection of sunny and eclectic pop songs whose melodies quite unexpectedly flirt with jazz and lounge without sounding like either. The background is a kaleidoscopic accumulation of sounds that could be described as brilliantly organized chaos - a production style we also appreciated on Foxygen's latest record, and that can be traced back to the Beck-Animal Collective "influenceology tree" - but a chaos that works with the upbeat songwriting to create a super-fun party atmosphere.
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Here are some quick news from some of the smaller boutique manufacturers out there:
Chicago Stompworks is now shipping the FAT BALD GUY (pictured) - it's a Big Muff "V3" clone with all of that hyper-fuzz and insane bottom end that your ears will instantly be familiar with! Check out the soundclip on their ebay page.
Black Cat Pedals is almost ready for their OD-Boost. Next week they will be sending out the announcement via their newsletter, check out the picture below and a rave (p)review here.
Cincinnati based El Rey Effects announced that due to popular demand, the Winston Churchill version of the Chicago Typewriter is now available as a limited run! Only 10 of these tremolo pedals will be available at this link.Countdown continues on the Unusual Signals Double Dip Fuzz! After at least 2 weeks and 15 revisions in design, the small Kentucky based company has the PCB ready to go. This is a milestone for Unusual Signals after a long road full of discovery, learning, and evolving.
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