Dick Hz

Coming in just under the wire, but still technically a January release, I present Dick Hz. We start off the new year with a very boisterous album, rough around the edges with janky guitar tearing right through the center. To me this album has a very cathartic feel to it. I don't know if it comes through in the music but this was our last jam before I moved to Philadelphia and started a new job, nerves were high and a good dose of vitamin Brown was just what I needed.

Unique to this album is the fact that there's very little of Joemazing's trusty Roland D50 synth, it only occasionally makes subtle droning appearances, instead guitar takes center stage. Through sheer accident we discovered that a clipping mixer is the perfect substitute for a distortion pedal. Say what you will about your fancy $3000 guitars and their tone, they'll never have the same qualities of a beat up thrift guitar with a built in speaker.

One of my personal favorite tracks is "Journey to the Ocean Floor." Maybe it's because it's one of the few songs where the D50 makes an appearance, or maybe because I'm particularly proud of my synthy soundscaping on this one, either way it's a track with a lot of interesting textures. It's one of the more ambient tracks, but it gradually gains abrasiveness from Joemazing's nasally guitar echoes.

Also of note is the track "Compromised Structural Integrity." There's not too much to say about this one, other than it's a good example of us just saying "fuck it" and going nuts. I think we could probably both feel the jam session was wrapping up and decided to give it one last hurrah.

Discrete Santa

Warm up those chestnuts, slurp down a frothy glass of nog, and get the christmas spirit deep inside you; it's Christmas on Craigslist again!

It's a bit of a Christmas miracle that this album exists at all; we recorded these tracks back in December 2014 with the intention of releasing the album the following year. Foolishly I didn't back the files up, and the hard drive they were on became corrupted. It seemed as if this jam session was lost to the computer gods. However after some research into data recovery I discovered that the files were just trapped in purgatory. Then it was just a matter of having the time and money to recover everything.

I was thrilled when everything was fully recovered and I had an opportunity to listen to what we had recorded for the first time in 2 years. There are some really solid Craigslist classics on here like "Mistress for Christmas" and "16 Days of Christmas", not to mention some non-craigslist originals like "Hey Who Put these Chestnuts Here?" and "Santa Doesn't want to go to Work Today."

These are sure to become your new favorite carols to sing. Maybe you'll even hear a track played on Jon Solomon's 25hr Christmas Marathon on WPRB this year.

Enjoy Your Christmas and remember to be discrete!

Christmas Retrospective part 3

Our most recent Christmas album came out 2 years ago and was a double mini album, if that makes sense. The first disc contained new christmas recordings from 2013, a couple of these tracks were new craigslist Christmas songs, and the rest were our rendition of christmas classics. Unofficially this is Dicks Pics volume 3 1/2.

The second disc was something rare indeed; The Brown Christmas rehearsing. These recordings were from 2012 in preparation for a noise fest we were playing. Basically these were our favorite, and most easy to recreate, songs from A Craigslist Christmas. One of my personally favorite moments from this disc is the addition of a brief break down in "Got No Girl" were Joemazing pounds out a maniacal rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy."

The spirit of christmas was alive and well in our bowels and with a little time, construction paper, glue, glitter, wrapping paper, and anything lying around on the floor, we created custom stocking packaging for each set of discs. We still have some available for sale, although if you purchase one you won't get it by christmas because preoccupied with various other christmas duties.

Christmas Retrospective 2

Oh no, it's Christmas again! It took three years for us to put out another Christmas album, but I believe the wait was well worth it. As the name suggests A Craigslist Christmas is not only a christmas themed album, but is also volume two of our Craigslist series.

For those not in the know, several years ago we started scouring craigslist casual encounters for the dirtiest posts we could find and would then use them as improvised lyrics for songs. So it seemed only natural that when Christmas came along some of these posts got kind of festive, and thus A Craigslist Christmas was born.

The tracks on this album are delightfully dirty and seasonally sexy. Highlights include the upbeat rocking "Got No Girl", The abrasive droney "Christmas Cums for Santa", and the hip-hop classic "My Name is George" which is one of our all time favorite craigslist tracks ever.

Christmas Retrospective Part 1

It's the most christmasy time of year and The Brown Christmas has a new Christmas album coming your way soon, but first take a retrospective look at our older christmas albums. Up first; The Brown Christmas Presents: A Very Special Brown Christmas, Christmas Special: for You and Yours
Recorded about 10 years ago when The Brown Christmas was just a (Santa) baby, and officially released 7 years ago. Aged like a fine glass of milk, our first Christmas album sounds quite primitive and minimalist compared to the recent material we've been releasing and rightly so. Some of these songs were recorded less than a year after our formation. I didn't even have a proper synth yet, and was instead banging on cheap toy keyboards running through pedals.

I think this was also the only album for which we've done a proper "release" show. In quite grand fashion we dressed in our christmas bests, decorated our set up with lights, and gave out christmas presents. Several lucky fans received this album with it's very special christmas special poster, a screen printed article of clothing, and our non-christmas themed album; Polish Men in $500 Hats. That performance in it's entirety is available here:

Escape from Margaritaville

Take an adventure to the dystopian Stalin-esque world of Margaritaville; where workers must toil endlessly in the salt mines and lime tree fields. Freedom can only be found in the lonesome void of space. Will our protagonist succeed in their attempt to escape? Perhaps, with the help of a certain brick oven pizza proprietor.

This is sort of a retconned concept album; a theme inspired purely by a title, imposed over a typical improvised jam session, and left up to the listener's imagination to create their own sci-fi thriller. A rather compact album, clocking it at under 30 minutes, Escape from Margaritaville is a quick sonic trek through clangorous oppressive beats, heavenly swells of squealing saxophone, and ambient space narration.

A memorable moment from this jam session was mid recording when, after much plugging and unplugging in an attempted to rectify a lost signal, Joemazing opened the top of a bargain bin mic he had been using. Much to his disgust he pulled out a filthy, crumbling, piece of what I can only assume was once foam insolation.

Once again I must commend Michael Burke on the terrific album artwork he created, it creates the perfect atmosphere and turns this silly title into a full formed concept. For maximum appreciation, pour yourself a margarita, pop on a good pair of head phones, and let the artwork inspire your own narrative adventure

Party like a Fireman

Recorded a mere five days after Where the Moon Don't Shine, Party like a Fireman is a nonstop sonic journey of madness spanning just over an hour. Where as our previous album had an emphasis on more orchestral, soundtrack-like, or ambient tunes; this one has a more beat driven, industrial, and over all darker tone. That's not to say it's all doom and gloom. There are several upbeat and comical moments, but they all seem to eventually veer into an uncomfortable waking dream state.

While our recording sessions are usually long continuous jams, by the time I edit them down to a suitable album length there are definite breaks between songs. This album however I believe is our first continuous album, with each track transitioning into the next uninterrupted. What begins as an initially plodding beat with "Macaroni Pudding" and quickly shifts gears to an uptempo groove with swells of shimmering synth strings, continues on an unbroken path eventually ending with the dissonant drones and maniacal screaming of "Nobody Knows what it's like..."

The highlight of Party like a Fireman is the suite of "Stan" songs which are equal parts danceable and bizarrely comical. Joemazing's verbal tricky with his trusty Giga Delay take center stage on these tracks. This section climaxes with a reprise of the melody from "Atmospheric Reentry" then shifts into darker territories for the latter half of the album.

I should also mention that the fabulous album artwork was made by my friend Michael Burke. After editing fifteen or so albums and creating artwork for the previous six I'm kind of burnt out, so expect to see more of Mr. Burke's art on future albums.