52 Teeth: Baby Teeth On-Line

His Songs Were Good

Abraham — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:49:01 +0000

It’s retro week here at 52 Teeth. This new recording, “His Songs Were Good”, showcases a song that I wrote a long time ago. Maybe 1998. Remember Lewinsky, the blue dress, etc.? Around that time. The lyrics are a true story about someone I knew back in high school who was an extraordinary songwriter — his songs still get stuck in my head almost 20 years later — but who just couldn’t get his life together, and whose problems ultimately overwhelmed his ability to write. We’ve all been there, in milder or more severe versions, but he was really suffering. “His Songs Were Good” is a sort of tribute to him.

I’m trying just to demo anything that has a chance of getting on to the next Baby Teeth full-length, and to do it as fast as possible, since our plan is to head into the studio at the end of March. So… no muss no fuss on this recording — I just wanted to slap it down and then get Jim and Peter’s feedback. That being said, I couldn’t help but have a little fun. For example, I made the background vocals louder than the lead vocals. Somebody in the sixties used to do this…. I’m blanking out. Is it on any Beach Boys records? Help me out, 52 Teeth Nation! I also picked up the axe again. Hendrix I ain’t, but it was fun laying down some indie guitar magic. Something about the drumless recording, combined with simple Rhodes piano and extremely simple guitar, brought back immense nostalgia for me…. maybe a memory of a cassette tape I made with a friend in middle school or something. In keeping with the backward-looking theme I suppose.

Finally, I discovered an awesome Logic vocal setting called “Leslie Background Vocals.” I put down a clean lead vocal next to the same performance set to “Leslie Background Vocals”. I absolutely love this effect, mainly because it’s the same effect that my hero Allen Toussaint uses on his recording of “Southern Nights”. Not that I’m comparing this song or this recording to his. But, I try to tip the cap whenever possible to the great master.

Do chime in with your thoughts, shall you?

World of Nothing

Abraham — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:17:23 +0000

Yes, friends, I’m emerging from winter hibernation for the purpose of delivering some nihilistic bedroom garage-pop, “World of Nothing”. I was aiming for something in the vein of the Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat. When I was finished I thought the end result wasn’t grimy enough. And I still think that. But…. after listening to the VU record again, I started thinking about how much ’50s rock influence was behind it. “White Light/White Heat” could’ve been a Jerry Lee Lewis song. So then I felt better, since a lot of “World of Nothing” is just yer basic blues/rockabilly form.

In the recording process, I was trying to use digital technology (I just got Logic Express… woo hoo) to simulate an analog, four-track-cassette-recorder kind of sound. It’s amazing how sophisticated distortion simulators have gotten. Particularly with the bass on this recording, I was pleased with how authentically fried-out it sounded. In the spirit of my own history with four-track recorders, I opted for no drums (or drum machines). Back when I was doing solo shows with backing tracks at the Hideout in 2004-05, I wouldn’t put any kind of percussion on the tracks, except maybe hand claps or maracas. This helped me feel like more of a weirdo.

Hope this provides you with some good headbanging in your cubicles. Let me know what you think.

“BOSS” is here!!!

Abraham — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:10:02 +0000

In perfect harmony with the upcoming Chicago mayoral election, Baby Teeth brings you “BOSS”, a digital EP that you can download for FREE right here.

For this album, Baby Teeth took a band challenge. Each of the three of us wrote and recorded a song at home, without sharing it with one another. The catch? Each song had to be titled “BOSS”…. a tribute(?) to our soon-to-be-departed Da Mare, Richard M. Daley. We relaxed the titular specificity a bit at the very end, allowing for “Good Old Boss” (from Abraham), “You’re Not the Boss of Me” (from Jim), and “Boss Man” (from Peter).

Kicking off the EP are a couple full-band tracks that maintain the theme of labor relations: the Baby Teeth original “Happy Secretary’s Day,” and a cover of the Springsteen chestnut “Factory.”

We hope you think our latest release is totally BOSS. We’ve gotten some nice shout-outs from Said the Gramophone (on January 21st), Veoba, Coudal, and Outside the Loop Radio. Thanks everyone!

Now, go download your very own free BOSS!!!

Welcome to Our World

Abraham — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 23:37:01 +0000

While Jim trots the globe (or at least, the European continent) with Bobby Conn, Peter and I keep the home fires burning. Things have been getting so slow lately, and my mind has been getting so peaceful, that I actually stopped to think that we had a BAND WEBSITE, and that I hadn’t touched it for about six months. Well! Can you imagine? I immediately got out my shovel and measuring cup and started renovating. Still a work in progress, but… better than it was, n’est-ce pas?

Stay tuned for news about our forthcoming “Boss” EP, a loose reflection on the Daley era here in Chicago. Tentative release date: February.

Beautiful When We Were Young

Abraham — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:24:09 +0000

Hello all. Click here to link to my latest contribution to Chicago Public Radio’s Re:sound. I’d recommend listening to the whole show, since it rips as always, but… my song starts at roughly 52:30, should you be short on time, like so many of the kids today.

Goodbye, Sweet June

Abraham — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:55:06 +0000

Yes, June, you hath come and gone, without a single new post on 52 Teeth. The depths of my shame are unfathomable. I can only offer the following, middling excuse: I’ve been engaged in the joyous labor of preparing for the second episode of Shame That Tune, and for my second appearance on Chicago Public Radio’s Re:sound. Both are going down this weekend. For details, see the 52 Teeth “Shows and Events” page.

I’ve also been playing a fair amount of tennis, each bout of which necessitates a substantial emotional-recovery period. Ditto for watching Cubs games. And that about gets things up to speed. I’ll post my new Re:sound song by the end of the weekend. (I lose a finger if I post it before the show runs.)

Deliverance Day

Abraham — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:54:34 +0000

Like Bryan Adams, I’m asking you to “please forgive me” in my delinquency this week. With the holiday weekend, I completely forgot that Monday morning had come and gone without a new post. I hope my negligence didn’t spoil your Memorial Day. With or without a new song, veggie dogs still taste weird, right?

I’m posting “Deliverance Day“, my first full-length song for Re:sound on Chicago Public Radio. (The episode aired this past weekend.) Because my job was to write a song that summarized the content of the show, the lyrics will not make a corn-pickin’ lick of sense unless you listen to the show itself. Which I’d recommend, because it’s a great show. But I hope you’ll be able to enjoy it either way. (Incidentally, there’s also a profile of yours truly that starts around the 40-minute mark.)

The show collected a bunch of “Chicago Sound Drops,” i.e., short audio pieces about the city submitted by different (mostly local) producers. I thought the “Sound Drops” sounded like a long-lost doo-wop group, so the genre kind of chose itself.

For the first time, I attempted to mic my upright piano — I dangled an SM57 behind it and just let ‘er rip. There are probably more sophisticated ways of skinning a cat, but it was fun, relatively quick, and I didn’t break anything. A good day at the office by my standard.

Re:sound Theme

Abraham — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:26:36 +0000

I chime in this week with the shortest sonic blast in 52 Teeth history: my 10-second “bumper” theme song that will play before my submissions to Re:sound on Chicago Public Radio. Here, in gloriously hi-fidelitous AIFF format, is my “Re:sound Theme“.

Lyrics: “It’s Abraham’s Re:sound song / It’s the Re:sound wrap-up song.” (Perhaps a tip of the hat to my all-time favorite theme song, the theme to “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.”) Re:sound is an hourlong show that runs on WBEZ on Saturdays at 1pm and Sundays at 9pm. They run some amazing audio documentary work. I have the awesome good fortune of getting to contribute songs, on a semi-regular basis, that summarize the content that’s been running in the preceding hour. My first attempt will air this coming Saturday, May 29th, so please tune in if you can. They’re also going to run a little profile of me that I’m suspecting will be humorous. Here’s the Re:sound website. Very cool people, and wicked smaht too.

My beloved audio nerds might notice that my vocals sound a little better this week. I finally broke down and bought an audio interface for my Garageband activity, so I can use my condenser mic again. I was surprised to find that I was still able to sound like a human. Sort of.

On an unrelated note, Betty White was absolutely KILLER on Saturday Night Live. Watch it on Hulu if you haven’t done so already. I’ve always been teased about my Golden Girls obsession, and I’ve been feeling validated by all the props B.W. has been getting lately. If only Bea Arthur were alive to share in the golden glow….

Too Hot to Rock

Abraham — Mon, 17 May 2010 05:18:16 +0000

Something in the air today made me want to make some STOOPID electro-rock, so here is this week’s entry, “Too Hot to Rock.” Lara asked me if this was meant as a tribute to LCD Soundsystem. Hm…. well, maybe so. I can’t say that I’m a devoted fan or anything, but I did enjoy the recent profile of James Murphy in the New Yorker, particularly when he said something to the effect of, “I’ve always liked making music — it’s just that I’m not very original.” I could relate to that!

The lyrics to this probing number tell the devastating L.A. story of a budding starlet who, having achieved a degree of burgeoning celebrity, abandons her old friends with whom she used to go clubbing. This song is from the perspective of one of those jilted acquaintances. In the process of telling this cruel saga, the song quotes from Bobby Brown’s Ghostbusters 2 theme, “Too Pooped to Pop” by Chuck Berry, “Don’t Bring Me Down” by E.L.O., and Van Hagar’s “Right Now” (ewwww).

Enjoy?

Shame That Tune

Abraham — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:42:08 +0000

Here’s my first attempt at writing a theme song for my new game show, “Shame That Tune“, which debuts on Friday June 11th, at the Hideout, here in Chicago USA. The concept of the show, which will be co-hosted by the irrepressible Brian Costello, is as follows: Three contestants, one by one, tell a quick, embarrassing story from their past. Before telling the story, they spin the Shame That Tune wheel, which looks like the Wheel of Fortune wheel, except that its various “slices” are made up of musical sub-genres (e.g., Lady Gaga, Dylan in the 80′s, U2 as interpreted by Gwar, etc.). After they tell their tale, Brian conducts a brief interview with them — exactly five minutes in length, counted down by a real LED clock — while I write a song about their story, in the style indicated by their spin of the wheel. When the timer gets to zero, I have to perform whatever it is that I’ve got. At the end of the show, after all three contestants have run the gauntlet, and after a few other assorted skits and bits of mayhem have occurred, the audience votes, via applause, as to which story/song collaboration proved most successful.

With this theme song, I was trying to explain the rules of the game, while also tipping my hat to a few of my favorite theme songs (All in the Family, the Muppet Show, etc.). I also wanted to limit myself to piano and two vocals (Brian’s and mine), since that’s how we may very well perform it at the show’s debut. Which, by the way, is Friday, June 11th, at the Hideout.

Let me know what you think. Did I overdo it on the square/vanilla side? Or is this just what the doctor ordered?