The Jensen Studio

Running with Scizzors is an album-a-day project by Al, Andrew, Joe, Josh. It was Andrew’s first attempt to record a complete album in a day.

Personnel:

• Al Nelson: Electric Guitar
• Andrew Jensen: Rhodes, Percussion, Gamepad, Cellphone
• Joe Pimentel: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Viola, Percussion, Cellphone
• Josh Asplund: Upright Bass, Bass Guitar, Percussion
• Josh Hunsaker: Drums, Percussion

Tracks:

1. Viola
   Professional production tip: put your most heavily produced tracks first! This is sort of a celtic sounding tune, named for Joe’s viola lick. It finishes out with a nice U2-style ending…
2. Mess Around
   I laugh every time I hear this song. After we heard it the first time, Al said, “This sounds like the soundtrack for a really awkward kid.”
3. Ambient
   I really wanted to try an Eno-style ambient track. Pink Floyd fans should be able to understand this as well. This song is built with a lot of echo effects and a four measure delay; everything we played was repeated every four measures, getting quieter each time. I love how the mood of this song changes so dramatically from beginning to end!
4. Horse Race
   Joe and Al were getting bored and wanted to play “something heavy.” This was the result. Listen to Joe scream “SOLO!” at 1:02.
5. Drum Circle
   Just that. Joe keeps sneaking out his viola!
6. Mouse Trap
   This came out of a joke during recording. Joe said, “hey guys! Listen to this!” We had to keep it.
7. The Cellphone Call
   This was an experimentation with speakerphone feedback loops (of course). The ringtone is a song by John Zorn. Yes, it’s really my ringtone.
8. Two Chords
   My first use of MaxMSP in a recording. Joe played two chords while a computer program controlled a digitech whammy pedal. The nintendo-style beeping later on was controlled manually by my gamepad! Read more

Total Time: 20:55

Recorded Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Cover Artwork by Ryan Jensen.

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