The Mountain Fold

1. Iron And Wine - Around The Well
2. Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave (2008)
3. Bela Fleck - Throw Down Your Heart
4. Decemberists - Hazards of Love
5. Varius Artists - Dark Was the Night
6. William Elliot Whitmore - Animals in the Dark
7. Amy Milan - Masters of the Burial
8. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
9. The Pines - Tremolo
10. Ben Frost - By The Throat

Iowa a Day has now been realized into a post card book. Only a short run is being made so if you haven’t expressed that you want one and you do, I suggest you do so quickly.

The post card book includes all of the photos from Iowa a Day plus one extra. Each of the discriptions for the photos are inculded on the flipside of the cards, which are indivudally detachable. The book also features a japanese stab binding. This post card book is ment to be used.

My mix, Three Moon Shoes in Scandinavia, has been completed and is available if you are so interested. The mix includes songs that I have listened to and shared with people along the last 15 or so months, and it is quite good if you ask me.

The first version of this mix tape circa June 2008 is also available upon request, but for that one you need to mail your request, if you need my address just ask.

“Four Moon Shoes in Scandinavia” is scheduled to come out in December 2010.

Short picture book, only available online.

I have been meaning to start a book binding project for quite some time, and I finally made some headway and completed my first book. I picked up “How to MAKE BOOKS” at a book store, it’s not the best book a tad bit too arts and crafts, and the author does not comply with the internationally standard rules for documenting mountain folds (something that this website takes pretty seriously.)  But near the end there is a section on Coptic binding which is what I tried first. I need to use coptic binding because for one of my projects I allready have made 3 sets of signatures and the way I prited them only coptic will display each page.  This first test was a success and it was really easy to do, now what to fill that book with….

Make Book + 1 Signature + Awl

Needle and Thread + Signature

Final Coptic Binding

Final Bound Book

Scandinavian Toilets a collection by Paul Sobczak

This is a collections of toilets that I collected while living in Oslo, Norway in 2007. I traveled around Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark) and took pictures of the toilets that I used. There are 116 images in this collection spanning the following cities: Oslo, Fjærland, Tromsø, Kristiansand, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen. Each image is attributed with the location at which it was gathered as well as the date it was taken.

There is a book version of this collection that will have a relief print on the cover that is in the works, the book will be limited to 10 copies.

I just released Seven Sedimenting Backgrounds over on Canada Goose Records, the record is a collection of soundscapes or drones that I have created this year, at Canada Goose you can listen and or download the whole thing. The cover of the record uses the picture above which I shot in just outside of Fjærland, Norway, the greenness of the water is what it actually looked like, further it looks that way becasue of the glacier and the sediments the the glaciers create.

I also posted up the full downloadable audio for the Street: Volume the First If you haven’t heard or seen that I suggest heading over and taking a look, I am quite happy with the project, and I am really happy to have had the chance to record Mary Grace and Raphael and Friends - Different Shades. It’s a great song and really catches the spirit of this project and, well life in general.

I Can Eat Glass Project:

The I Can Eat Glass Project lets you discover how to say the phrase “I can eat glass, it doesn’t hurt me” in different languages.

The project was inspired by Ethan Mollick’s I Can Eat Glass Project. Mollick discribes his project with the following:
The Project is based on the idea that people in a foreign country have an irresistible urge to try to say something in the indigenous tongue. In most cases, however, the best a person can do is “Where is the bathroom?” a phrase that marks them as a tourist. But, if one says “I can eat glass, it doesn’t hurt me,” you will be viewed as an insane native, and treated with dignity and respect.

The site uses Gooogle Maps API, and some slick PHP that I learned to make it work. I hope you enjoy it.

Early 2009, I traveled to San Francisco on a trip that took me coast to coast across North America. Here is a short introduction to that trip, and to the city of San Francisco.

This recording starts out with two binaural recordings of the Fisherman’s Wharf on the edge of city, where I sat on a pier with a view of the golden gate bridge while people and a class of children passed by.  Next is a piece that features one of the trolley cars the city is so famous for.  This transforms into a train on its way to San Jose where you can hear a call for the Sunnyvale stop.

Now, back in San Francisco, we go underground and hear a bit of “I’m going to Let it Shine” from some street artists in one of the many the BART subway stations. A bus comes around I board and am joined with a San Fran native talking, there is no need for encouragement, he was just talking on his own to no one in particular, but every once in a while he directed a statement towards myself or the bus driver. Next, a bit of saxophone from a street artist playing on Mission St. at around 8 in the evening.

Then I travel to San Francisco’s Noise Bridge a member based electronic/hobbyist club where a member is talking about the “smart drugs” that he is taking, neuro inhibitors, and alcohol. Then I jump into a car and turn on KPFA one of my favorite radio stations out of Berkley, CA. This en route to Menlo Park on highway 101. The host, Robby Osman talks about Obama, Pete Seger, Big Bill Broonzy, amongst others, and plays some music. Back in San Francisco again, a short story from one of San Francisco’s homeless sharing some information about an event that impacted his life. The last recording takes us back to where we started at the Fisherman’s Wharf, where a street artist with a rather large curly mustache is plays some blues on his guitar that slowly fades away.

Paul Sobczak - Field Recording San Francisco 3/11/2009

This was recorded was made using the built in microphones of a Edirol R09HR solid state recorder and a pair of binaural microphones.

*Note this recording will be released on a yet to be formed net-label in the future.

I know the audio for the past shows is lagging; I have most of the files but I need to upload them. Before I do that I need to attack all of the audio that I have posted in the past the has fell victim to the weird right left pulsating audio effect. Most of all the older show pre-2008 are good. I was never able to figure out what was causing the issue in the recordings.

What I am doing to fix them is importing the stereo file and coverting it to 2 channel mono, by grabbing one of the channels and copying it to the other. I know this does not totally illeviate the problem but sonically is sound a lot better and is virtually indestingusable, from what it sound like when it was aired on the radio. The whole process takes a long time because I have to import the whole 100+Mb file into an audio program, then to the manupilation and save it all again, then upload, and link each one. So it will be awhile before I get around to it, but it is planned for the future.

Intro:
Every year in Rochester, Minnesota the Rochester Symphony Orchestra sponsors an event to introduce  different types of musical instruments to children in 4th and 5th grade. The event is called “Honk, Squeak, Scratch, Boom.” About 50 Music teachers and over 60 volunteers give school children from around the area a chance to try out a multitude of different instruments and figure out which ones they like. Here is Paul Sobczak at the 2009 interviewing firsttime volunteer Tre’ Dozier.

Audio:

Download

From more information: Rochester Symphony Orchestras Website

On January 6th I launched Twin Cities Maker, a website dedicated to realizing a high-tech maker shop in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

The goal of the website is to find people interested in creating a maker shop, and give them an avenue to start talking about it.

A maker shop as I have coined it is membership based physical location where people combine their talents and capitol to create a workshop with tools and classes, that are out of the price range of the individual.

Think of a maker shop as a membership based gym like the YMCA but instead of racket ball courts and yoga lessons, there are CNC routers, and micro-controller classes.

Maker shops have been growing in the last few years here in the United States and abroad. Some specific movements to note are the NSF funded Fab Lab, the community based hacker spaces initiative, and California based Tech shop.

Each one of these maker shops are approaching the same idea from different angles. Some maker shops are have about 10 members and meet primarily on the internet while other maker shops have 15,000 square foot facilities with over 400 annual members.

The thing that they have in common is their community approach and their goal of making high-tech affordable.

At Twin Cities Maker we would like find out the interest level in such a maker shop and to see what type of high-tech equipment is wanted, be it laser cutters, 3D printers, or T-shirt screen printing presses. We also are starting the conversation on where the maker shop should be located and how to fund the endeavor.

I invite anybody interested from the Twin Cities or elsewhere to join the conversation and help the project get off its feet.

My instrument collection circa 2008. 29 in Total. Here>

2008 Top 10+

1. Jim White - Transnormal Skiperoo
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Hanne Hukkelberg - Rykestraße 68
4. Roma di Luna - Casting the Bones
5. Jeffrey Lewis - 12 Crass Songs
6. My Brightest Diamond - A Thousands Sharks Teeth
7. Matt Bauer - The Island Moved in The Storm
8. Herman Dune - I Wish That I Could See You Soon Ep
9. Bowerbirds - Human Hands
10.Why? - Alopecia

the almosts:
Astronautalis - Pomegranate
Various - Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music, Vol. 5
Antony and the Johnsons - Another World EP
Ane Brun - Changing of the Seasons
Man Man - Rabbit Habbits
Various - Art of Field Recording, Vol. 2 * would most likely be on the list but I have not purchase it yet.

Graduated and a Cylinder (12/16/08)
1. Tom Waits - Jack Keroac - On the Road
2. Devendra Banhart - This Beard is for Slobhan
3. Astronautalis - Secrets of the Undersea Bell
4. Bjork - Cant Help Loving Man of Mine
5. Múm – They Made Frogs Smoke ’til They Exploded
6. The Octopus Project - The Adjustor
7.Under Byen - Den her sang handler om at få det bedste ud af det
8. Jim White - Fruit of the Vine
9. Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act I and II)
10. Hanne Huckelberg - A Cheaters Armory
11. Roma Di Luna - The Romance of Wolves
12. Jeffrey Lewis - I Ain’t Thick
13. My Brightest Diamond - If I Were Queen
14.Matt Bauer - Dont Let Me Out
15. Why? - The Hollows
16. Astronautalis - The Wondersmiths and his sons
17. Man Man - Rabbit Habbits
18. Antony and the Johnsons - Shake that Devil
19. Ane Brun - The Treehouse
20. Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing

Here is the story of a larger than average Cheeto. Located in Algona, Iowa, this super snack sits atop a custom blown glass stand on a soft purple pillow that accentuates all of its cheesiness.  Below find a short radio documentary, some strange photoshoped cheeto creations, some information concerning its location and some pictures I was lucky enough to take of this monstrosity circa 2008.

Audio

Giant Cheeto Photoshop Thread

See it Yourself.

CNN News Article

For photos

Read more »

No. (12/9/08)

1. Rose Tattoo - End of Train Device
2. Jerry and Gerry - Silver Threads Among The Gold
3. The Get Up Johns - Cluck Ol Hen
4. Sacred Harp Singers - Jubilee
5. Sacred Harp Singers - Save, Lord, or we Parish
6. Neko Case - Off of Fox Confessor Bring the Flood
7. Roma De Luna - Trouble Down The Road
8. John Hatford - Big Rock Candy Mountain
9. Our Lady of Bells - With My Eyes
10.Lonesome River Band - Wires and Wood
11. Hank III - The Grand Ole Opry (ain’t so grand)
12, Isobell Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Black Mountain
13. Mark Lanegan - Paper Money
14. David Coulter - Borken Mass
15. Alisa Jones Wail - Opening: Lorena
16. Abigail Washburn - Annabelle June
17. Bryan Sutton - Shady Grove
18. Jimmy O’ Clock - Shady Grove
19. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood (power out)
20. Meaghan Smith - If You Asked Me
21. junk and Dizzy Gillespie - Cuban Bop
22. Sammy Davis Jr. - Mr. Bojangles

23. Scat music blllllllllahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

White Beetle (12/4/08)

In the Summer of 2007 I pick up a hitchhiker while on my way across the state of Texas. He was Mexican and I was driving in a Jeep that I had rented for a short trip to California. He couldn’t speak much English, but when he did he used his words to tell me how great it is to sleep with black women. I dropped him off at a gas station, it was about 3am, still dark, and the store hadn’t open yet.

This Agreeable Light (12/2/08)

1. 13 and God - Perfect Speed
2. Devotcha - How It ends Radio Edit
3.Lost Wisdom - Flaming Home

For the rest of the show I did the audio version of the above Roundabout. Read the full post over at CitizenAnalog.com

4. Alela Diane - My Brambles (Daytrotter Sessions)
5. Shara Worden reading Diane Arbus’ Freaks And Dancing With Them
5.5. Shara Worden - Be My Husband
6. Nina Simone - Be My Husband
7. Nina Simone - I Put a Spell on You
8. The Beatles - Michelle
9. Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals - Michelle
10.Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the Night
11. Then I finished up the rest of the Roundabout

Lexical Boneyards (11/25/08)

1. Micah P. Hinson - She Don’t Own Me
2. Micah P. Hinson - My Time Wasted
3. Micah P. Hinson - Little Boy Dreams
4.  Edith Frost - Its a Game
5.  Lou Reed - Caroline Says pt1
6. Iron and Wine - Sodom, South, Georgia
7. Horse Feathers - In Our Blood
8. (smog) -  Rain on Lens
9. (smog) - Revanchism
10. Angels of Light - Not Here/Not Now
11. Marissa Nadler - Famous Blue Raincoat
12. Vetiver - Armour Fou
13. Richard Swift - Sadsong St.
14. American Analog Set - Everything Ends in Spring
15. Sufjan Stevens - The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders Part I and II
16.Shogun Kunitoki - Montezuma
17. Nat Baldwin - Wake Up It’s Time To Rise
18. The Year Of - Alone (I Love You)
19. Boards of Canada - Chromakey Dreamcoat
20. Bang on a Can with Don Byron - Fyodorovich
21. Lali Puna - Small Things Remix