Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Why I am not giving my albums away for free. Sorta.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Soundcloud fun
First is a track from my new EP, "Hello, World!". It drops next tuesday, the 26th of June. Its called "Stack Silver". I started looking into silver prices, and if you look into silver at all, on the internets, it wont be long until worlds like "collapse" "Fiat currency" "meltdown" and more enter the picture. Pretty interesting.
Next is from the new John Smith LP. It's called "Vandalize The Temple". It kind of became one of my favorite tracks on the new record, and I ended up singing a hook on it. If you heard the beat how it was recorded to in 2010, and how it ended up, you would probably be surprised.
Next is a couple of abandoned tracks from the 2004 Farm Fresh record, for your mild interest only. The first one, origin, was written about how the three of us (Pip Skid, Hunnicutt, and myself) met and started the group. It was the last song we cut from the record, so it had been produced a little more than just a demo. When it came down to it, Hunnicutt felt that the track wasn't that interesting a subject, and I couldn't disagree. What do you think?
Finally, a track also from the same session, called "Is It Because You're Wack". If I recall correctly, it was sort of a take off of the classic "Is It Because I'm Black" by Syl Johnson, at least on a very light, superficial level. But I don't think we nailed it, and we scrapped it.
OK, thats it for this week. I have plenty more to play you coming soon! Thanks for reading.
Roddy
Monday, June 11, 2012
Ol' Man Winter
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Hello, World EP!
Hi, its me, mcenroe. I did a new record in the last 6 weeks. It has 4 songs. Do you want to hear it? I'm gonna put it on bandcamp in the next couple of weeks. And I will press up CD copies (but not very many) in the next couple of weeks. And put it on itunes in the next couple of weeks. And hit up blogs and all that.
But its ready now, and I wouldn't mind at all if you heard it.
So if you wanna hear it, how about you just ask me?
Email me at roddy <at> mcenroe <dot> net and I will hook you up. I will send you a link, and you can hear it. And if you are so inclined, you can email me back and tell me if you like it. That would be cool.
Just ask.
And tell me what part of the world you live in, and if you don't want me to add you to the Peanuts & Corn mailing list, tell me that too, or I may just do it.
---
I've got a lot to tell you guys. Music is a big thing right now. I am working on doing some new partnerships for upcoming records. I'm really excited. I can't wait to tell you. But first I want to tell you about this 4 song EP.
I have been kinda bummed that it is taking me longer and longer to finish records. I get busy, I work on other things, I shoot music videos, I work, I build basement suites, I watch hockey games, I hang out with my lovely wife, play with my lovely children, educate them, all that. Its time consuming man! But still, I have to be able to finish a record. I just have to. Music is too important to me not to.
So I set out to do four songs, and put them out as quick as I can. I know several dudes that can achieve this feat in about 24 hours. For me, it took 6 weeks.
I mean, I gotta make the beats. Then I have to write the songs. And when I write a song, its not easy. Maybe I hold myself to a higher standard, or maybe lyrics just don't flow as quickly from my head as some. Whatever it is, it takes time. I would say a 24 bar verse, if I am feeling inspired, would take about 3 or 4 hours to write. So you need to have that chunk of time, without interruption, with the ability to rap out loud in a working, studio environment. Not so easy for me these days.
Anyway, I wrote these songs and then finished off the beats. And that takes a long time too. I can start about 10 beats in a night. But finishing them? Layering them and having lots of interesting things happen? That takes much more time.
Then I need to find a window of pure quiet in my house, to record the vocals. This is almost impossible. I have a 3 year old and a 5 month old baby. If the baby is in the house, either he is making noise or there can be no noise. And the baby, he doesn't need to leave the house all that often. So I don't get a lot of time in the house to myself to record.
Let me me stress that I am not complaining about how busy my house is. Its awesome. But it makes it a challenge.
Then I gotta mix and master the record. And when I make a mix, I can't listen to it out loud in the house, for the same reasons as above. So I gotta go drive around in my car. And waste gas, I know, its bad. So generally I would only do 1 mix per day. So every little tweak would generate a new mix and add a day to the process.
Anyway, thats why it takes 6 weeks. And here it is. Four songs of brand new mcenroe paranoia and attitude. The tracks are:
Hello, World! - about our ultra dependence on technology.
Last Man Standing - I guess that would be me?
Stack Silver - I'm not saying global financial collapse is imminent, but yo!
You Are A Robot - no , really, you are
So hey, check it out. Let me know what you think. And stay tuned for big news about some records me and my friends at Peanuts & Corn have coming out.
Later,
Roddy
mcenroe
Saturday, December 31, 2011
happy new year
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A shocking bill! - Getting out of Richmond and getting out of the hole
Hey yo! Time for the once a year post, I guess.
Today in my inbox I got an email from my former distributor, Fontana North. Peanuts & Corn was distributed by Fontana North since about 2005, I think. Before that we were with Sonic Unyon.
I put out two records through Fontana North, the John Smith - Growing Pains and Birdapres - Get It Done LPs. Neither really did anything. At about that time I got into film and stopped worrying about releasing records in a timely manner, promo, all that stuff.
The move to Fontana North didn't do anything good for us in terms of promo or sales. In fact it just made it really really easy for stores that had our stuff to return it.
Early on I made a payment to FN to cover those losses. But over the years I have not heard much from them, rarely getting any account statements. I have definitely not had any personal contact from them for several years.
And today I get hit with a bill for $1807.63. I am waiting on details of what this balance is from, with breakdowns and all that. I also have to decide if I want the stock that they are sitting on to be returned, picked up, or destroyed.
Bottom line is this distribution deal did not go well. I am not blaming FN. When I put out records as rarely as I do, how could I be a priority? But a bill like this never comes at a good time.
And speaking of timing, I am moving next month to a new home in East Vancouver. I have started the process of moving and have discovered that I have a lot of stuff. Including a ton of product - probably more product that I ever will be able to sell in today's digital age, considering I have no distribution.
I would like to offer up this product to you people at a big discount, to raise the funds to be a standup guy and pay off Fontana North. Because I pay my debts.
So here we go. I am offering this deal until I raise the $2000 to pay this debt and get my product back from FN in Toronto.
Prices include shipping in the US and Canada. Payment made to roddy@mcenroe.net on PayPal.
$100 - Every CD ever (almost)
Only 20 pkgs available
** EDIT - ONLY 9 LEFT **
PC008 - mcenroe - the ethics ep
PC009 - farm fresh - played out
PC012 - park-like setting - school day 2
PC013 - moves feat Birdapres - Alleged Legends
PC014 - Pip Skid - friends4ever
PC015 - john smith - blunderbus
PC018 - gruf - druidry
PC020 - mcenroe - the convenience ep
PC021 - Peanuts & Corn - summer 2002 - **SOLDOUT**
PC022 - hip-hop wieners - all beef, no chicken
PC023 - mcenroe - billys vision
PC025 - mcenroe - disenfranchised
PC026 - Yy - Hold The Fort Down EP
PC027 - Peanuts & Corn - fall 2003
PC028 - Pip Skid - Funny Farm
PC029 - John Smith - Pinky's Laundromat
PC030 - Peanuts & Corn - Tape Hiss
PC031 - Break Bread EP
PC032 - mcenroe & Birdapres - Nothing Is Cool
PC033 - mcenroe - disenfranchised 2 / Pip Skid - Funny Farm 2
PC034 - Farm Fresh - Time Is Running Out
PC035 - Gruf - Hopeless
PC036 - Park-Like Setting - Craftsmen
PC037 - Birdapres - Get It Done
PC038 - John Smith - Growing Pains
PC039 - Roddy Bailey - Edge Of Town
PC040 - mcenroe - The Paper Champion
PC041 - Yy - Tape It Back Together
This is a really cool amount of music for a very small amount of money. Once I sell 20 of these packages, thats it.
And for those of you who are not down with physical product anymore, I offer a digital version of the above for direct, sketchy download.
$60 - Every Release Ever after 1998.
All of the above releases plus:
PC010 - fermented reptile - lets just call you quits
PC011 - fermented reptile / park-like setting split 12"
PC017 - Peanuts & Corn - Factory Seconds
PC019 - Pip Skid - Money Matters 7"
PC024 - John Smith - High Arctics 7"
and
Roddy B - All Types Of Hype Demos
mcenroe - Keeping The Faith Remix EP
Thanks for reading and supporting. Any questions, hit me. Onwards and upwards.
Roddy
Thursday, August 12, 2010
August 2010 already...
I went in with a buddy and got a Canon T2i camera. So a lot of my energy has gone into shooting some music videos. Last month Nestor Wynrush was out in Van and we shot a video for High Park Sunrise. Then I went to Winnipeg and shot 4 videos, two for Yy and two for John Smith. One of them includes the entire Break Bread crew (except Gruf and me, I stayed behind the camera). Finally I shot a video for a new mcenroe track called Keeping The Faith, and am planning on shooting another for a song called Gearing Up For Getting Down. So I have 6 videos waiting to be edited right now.
Yy's LP is in the final mastering stages and will out late october or early november. It is called "tape it back together"
John Smith's LP is recorded and now I gotta finish the beats. It will be out ib early 2011.
My son is amazing. So fun and so funny.
Been watching Breaking Bad, I am a fan. Entourage has passed its best before date. Other than that I dont watch much TV.
I'm on Twitter: I only tweet a couple of days a week. @bigmcenroe
my youtube site: youtube.com/bigmcenroe
so long, stay tuned