complexities.

The Family Tapes reconvened today for some recording and, yeah. It's still hard. Maybe I'll post a recording in a bit.

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never shall part.

The Family Tapes seem to have decided to give it another go, this time "without taking it too seriously", which you would find hilarious if you'd seen us barely able to get onstage at our last gig due to lack of a setlist.

But, yes, seriously, this is good news, it's a project that we all loved the idea of but it never really fully developed, so hopefully we take it further this time. Here's a nice post about us on Disquiet.com.

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familytime.

Above: Brainiac. I can remember exactly where I was when I heard that Timmy Taylor was dead. Bonsai Superstar was easily my favorite record of 1994 (and 1995), and I'd been eagerly awaiting a live show. I still use the Timmy Taylor Defense whenever it doesn't make financial or geographical sense for me to go see a live show that I will one day regret not seeing.

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So, Family Tapes gig 2 was better than the first one, but still mostly helped us realize what we don't want to do.

But OK, also what we do want to do, some of which I think is to play compositions. This is part of a new piece that we tried for the first time on the day of the gig (like, with at least one person seeing their written parts for the first time that day), where two notes in a row are rarely played by the same guitarist (in this section we each play every 5th note). In its original context, this bit (loop 4) lasts for about 10 seconds, this is an experiment to see what happens if it lasts a little longer.

The Family Tapes: The Happy Days (4/13).

And this excerpt is not actually composed, but we knew we were going to do it: this is us blowing on the strings with amps turned up very loud.

The Family Tapes: Blown.

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the family that plays together.

The Family Tapes had their first gig in early January. Was it....fun? Yes.

Was it....good? I think it was probably OK. I mean I have the recording, but it doesn't sound like music yet: instead I'm just trying to figure out what I'm doing to see if I should congratulate myself or set myself aflame.

Actually figuring out what I'm doing is pretty easy on bits like this next one, because I'm playing the role of disruptor. But I think in general it became clear that we can't continue to Just Let Things Happen, we're just not getting diverse enough results: we need some structure. Here's the first 4 minutes of the show, wherein I demonstrate me some handheld amplifier technique.

The Family Tapes: The Shyboy Opening (10MB).

So you see what I mean. We're taking some steps to try and force ourselves into new territory: we're doing some writing and we're working on getting some external composers interested in writing for Family Tapes...which will either fix us or break us for good. The latter would be untimely, yo: we just made disquiet.com's Best of 2008 list.

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detritus.

Above: LYSN in Berlin, approaching the limits of our tolerance for promo photos.

Below: Ongoing warts-and-all documentation of the summer and fall's efforts, for better or for worse.

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The Family Tapes. Rehearsal Recording. June 2008.

"Funnel Cloud"

"Machine Oil"

"Mutiny"

"Harakiri"

• Alfredo Genovesi: guitar
  
• Jeroen Kimman: guitar
  
• Jasper Stadhouders: guitar
  
• Raphael Vanoli: guitar
  
• Mark Morse: guitar
  

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LYSN live at the ADM Festival, Amsterdam: "A Drone Moment". 31 August 2008.

• Hilary Jeffery: trombone, tromboscillator
  
• Alfredo Genovesi: guitar
  
• Charlotte Cegarra: voice
  
• Seamus Cater: harmonica
  
• Mark Morse: guitar
  

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sleepgunner live in Kikker Theater, Utrecht. 24 Sept 2008.

"New Partner Waltz". (Mark: main melody, tremelo gtr; Jeroen: tele solo)

"Lorene" (Jeroen: ebow/slide, non-slide melody; Mark: ebow/harmonizer, slide melody)

• Jeroen Kimman: guitar
  
• Mark Morse: guitar

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