Moneyless Music: White Xmas/Xmas Bells

Free Download!

Last year, I recorded two songs in my home studio for the lovely Wanda Wisdom's Christmas Special.

The tracks were written, recorded and mixed over the course of only a couple days.
If i remember correctly, her instructions were to give her something that was somewhere
between Burl Ives and John Waters. I'd like to think I succeeded.
These short ditties are downright filthy, so parental advisory kiddies.

Xmas Bells/White Xmas by robertgermanmusic

sort of but not quite a new year's resolution

So, I don't really do new year's resolutions, but this year I am going to try to commit to a few things. This may be a bit ambitious, so don't flog me if I fail on some account.

1. Release of Sunrise at the Speakeasy in 2012 (finally)

2. Finish studio recordings of the following unreleased songs:

The Ocean & The Easel Part 1 :The Ocean

-Wash Away
-Sally
-Banana Leaves
-The Seaman's Wharf
-Fishes & Birds
-Chicken of the Sea (taste like chicken)
-Mister Octopus (yes, that is the title)
-Portuguese Man of War
-The Bottle
-The Siren
-The Ocean & The Easel

The Ocean & The Easel Part 2: The Easel
-Digitized
-Western Front
-Daddy
-Cherry Falls
-600 Miles
-Pretty Decent Guy
-After the Apocalypse
-God in The Telephone Book
-Single File
-Down So Low
-Big from Down Here/Sirens of Brooklyn (ballad version)
-The Famine & The Flood
-Act Like a Girl

3. Move to Canada.

There you have it.

Lotsa Love

R

NPR: First Listen Tori Amos - Night of Hunters

I haven't had a chance to listen to this yet, but I thought I'd post now and give opinions later. The new Tori Amos album Night of Hunters is now streaming on NPRs website. Go forth and listen!

NPR - First Listen: St. Vincent

NPR has really been doing a great job of making me happy by streaming the albums
of some of my favorite musicians before the release dates. Being a child who couldn't
resist shaking the presents before Christmas Day, this is something with makes me exceedingly happy.

You can have a listen to St. Vincent's Strange Mercy in its entirety over on NPR's
website.

Enjoy! The album is scheduled for a September 13th release date.

A pair of (eat my) shorts on September's Out Radio

J.D. Doyle is the foremost historian of queer music.
His knowledge is unrivaled. Not only is he a staunch supporter
of Out artists and their works, but he is also just a really nice guy.

I had the pleasure of meeting J.D. back in 2006 when I had the honor of recording an intro to accompany my song Marlboro man for his program.

This month, you can hear two songs in my eat my shorts series being played on the september edition of Out Radio. There are many talented musicians, too many to name with whom I share this honor.

Head over to JD's site and check out the playlist where you can also
listen to the program.

moneyless Music - Robert Recommends - Royksopp/The Irrepressibles Free Download

The Irrepressibles have been on my musical radar for a while now thanks
to their introduction by the lovely Gilles-Mathieu Laberge, my friend up north in Montréal.

The Scandi (Norwegian Electronica) group Royksopp has put their own subtle but lovely twist on the track In This Shirt, which is now downloadable from their site.

Get it here for Free!

Also, if you haven't seen the music video from Pag directed by Roy Raz (non official) for the same song, I highly recommend you give it a looksy. Pure eye candy.

Eat My Shorts - Volume 4 - Bootylicious

Robert German - Eat My Shorts - Volume 4: Bootylicious by robertgermanmusic

Eat My Shorts - Volume 2: Nerdy Boy

Eat My Shorts - A New Series

People used to communicate through long flowery letters whilst musicians wrote elaborate pieces, movements, symphonies even ring cycles. Oh how times have changed.

micro blogging, tweeting, music released as single tracks connected to no album. OMG, LOL, WTF, TTYS, ROTFL! XOXO

Though I have a special love for a thought out well crafted album, where the songs flow together and work as one harmonious piece of art, I also have a special adoration for very short songs. I realized that I have many songs which are less than a minute, which I may never expand beyond that length.

So without further ado, I present a series which I will attempt to refresh once a week.

Eat my shorts, bite-size demos for the attention deficit disordered masses.

I hope you enjoy.



a note about volume 1. This was a silly improv that I just created on the fly to test out a new microphone. All tracks were 1 take with minimal editing. It is what it is. The image you see was taken using a diana f+ 120 film camera w/ 100 iso redscale film, extended exposure of atlantic avenue subway station while a train was pulling into the platform.

Free Download of the Week- Fishnet Sailor

Diversions- Mad at the Dirt

This diversion is dedicated to the wonderful Mister Jason S. of D.U.M.B.O. Brooklyn and comes courtesy of the Yeast Radio where it recently was used as the opening song.
In case you are unfamiliar with that filth, Yeast Radio is a very twisted and slightly "racist"-for-"racist"-sake podcast that features True Dooty, the highlarious highjinx of the whorishly nasty Cheryl Merkowski.
I shouldn't admit that I listen to this grum, but I must admit that I'm rather addicted to it and the envelope pushing it employs.

Anyhoo. here's The Joans with Mad at the dirt. enjoy.

currently on the turntable- Harry Belafonte sings of the Caribbean

One of the things that I love about vinyl records (besides the sound)
is that many songs that were originally released on vinyl were never transferred
to CD or the digital realm. Typically you can find an artist's greatest hits
and their very popular albums, but when you buy an old record, your ears get treated
to musical gems that many people haven't heard in years if ever at all.

The most recent addition to my vinyl collection falls into that category. It has never been released on itunes.
It is Harry Belafonte sings of the caribbean, released in 1957 and in perfect condition. Here's one of the other things I love about vinyl. I bought the entire album for $3 from a guy selling vinyl out of a paper box on 7th avenue.

In these tough economic times, you can't beat the price.

The Djembe Man

Sometimes I find myself scared of my dreams.
It makes me scared of sleeping. It makes me stay up late
drinking and thinking and avoiding drifting away.
Last night I went to bed early and drifted into the land of dreams.
I found myself greeted by a very smiley man. I was in an African instrument shop.
I started by playing the djembe and he asked me why I was so fascinated with the djembe and told me that he had many other instruments that made even more interesting sounds.
He kept bringing me instruments to play.
There is a drumshop/African instrument shop over on Union Street and 4th avenue. I have been meaning to go into it for months. I want to explore the use of alternate instrumentation, specifically African instruments for the third album.

I know, first things first, I have to polish up the 2nd album, package it and finally share it with the world.

but for now, here are some of the sounds in my head that will be shaping some of the upcoming music.

Sore Fingers

Photo by Carrie Thomas

My fingers are sore today and the tips are white from the combination of about 4 hours of piano and 3 or 4 hours of guitar playing yesterday.
I have been teaching myself a few of my new songs on piano.
It's interesting, because I find that there is more of a classical inspiration when I put things to piano, whereas guitar seems to draw me to a place more rooted in folk.

What I really want is a djembe. K and I passed a shop the other day full of African Art and Djembes which are handmade by this one man from Senegal. He even goes to Africa every year and picks out the goats to be slaughtered for the skins that are stretched to make the drums. I will hopefully get one soon, because I feel it is part of the sound I want for some of the newer recordings (yet to be recorded but what I hear in my head)

First Things First

As previously mentioned in an earlier posting, I'm absolutely gaga for the music of Patrick Watson. Lately, it is what I have been listening to about 80% of the time I have allowed other people's music to enter my head.

Here is a beutiful example of Patrick as a live performer. This melts me at the core of my soul.


What do you think?