Summer and Starlight

the end is the beginning

justin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:50:45 +0000

i will be abandoning this moniker and releasing more recordings under a different name in the future. the goodbye blue e.p. will still be available online indefinitely and physically until i run out of copies. justin and brian (drums/bass) are in the ‘where should i live/what should i do’ post-college phase and so we are not currently playing together, but hopefully that’s not the last of the music we create together. i’m really sick of the name ’summer and starlight,’ it started basically as a joke about stupid band names when i needed to make a myspace to upload a recording i’d made, and then i never got around to changing it, so i figured now was a good time to make a clean break into something new, since i’ve grown and changed a lot since then and i don’t want a name that implies something i don’t stand behind. i’ve been working on some new recordings that i’m really excited about. i’ll update this site once more with info on the new stuff when it’s ready. i’m also playing guitar/keys in the benjamin riley band (www.benjaminrileymusic.com) which just released a new EP that i recorded and i’m very proud of.

keep it in your sneaker,

justin

the new what next

justin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:05:24 +0000

it has been quite a while. we have been enjoying summer sunshine and love and water and travels and other countries and all sorts of goodness. the EP is finished and ready to be purchased by any interested parties.

we’ve been carving out some demo material for our next set of recordings. kind of using a different approach this time. the last EP (Goodbye Blue) was done mostly in a straightforward ‘rehearse with the songs, then record with a couple takes until it sounds good, then mix’ kind of way.

this next project is more about attacking things from more angles than just ‘head-on,’ so we have a lot of recordings we’re experimenting and tinkering with and ’shaping’ a bit more than on the previous release, if you will. i’m pretty excited about how it is coming along, we got some drum tracks laid down on these demos this past weekend. oh and i’ll be doing the mixes in pro tools 8 rather than logic, and i’m much more fluent in pro tools so that should help things a bit too. another thing i’m excited about is involving some more people outside of the band in this.

i’ve been spending some time working on ‘booking demos’ and ‘press kits,’ something i never really learned or cared about, until i started wondering why it was so hard to get a decent show once in a while. now i realize you actually have to send people stuff in order for them to be aware that you exist. imagine that little tidbit. so hopefully bookings will pick up a bit, and we’ll be able to increase our span (playing more than just typical Grand Rapids places, etc)…

R.I.P. Jay Bennett (1963-2009)‎

justin — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:39:12 +0000

jay bennett was one of those rare individuals who operated equally from both sides of the brain. his contributions to wilco’s music resulted in some of my favorite records, ever. (yankee hotel foxtrot and summerteeth)

not only did he play a wide variety of instruments (guitar, pianos, banjo, organs, a crazy array of synths, mellotron, drums, etc) with an easy grace but his talents in production and arrangement brought wilco’s music to fascinating new depths.

things weren’t going too well for him recently and its a shame he was taken from this world so young.

some of my favorite jay bennett moments on film:

jay isn’t on camera much in this one, i just love all the crazy keys and harmonies on this track:

people don’t come around every day who treat lead guitar with this much eloquence:

“pieholden suite” was, i believe, one of his personal favorite wilco recordings that he contributed to (along with the keys on “california stars.”) i love the tasteful brian wilson influence:

finally, wilco recorded the song “My Darling” for Summerteeth, but Jay wrote it and did an excellent version on his record with Edward Burch, The Palace at 4 A.M. it gives me chills.

daylight / case study

justin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:07:20 +0000

here’s one of the first recordings i ever made when i first started getting into recording:

here’s how i play the song now:

Daylight from Justin on Vimeo.

also, i just finished mixes for the “Goodbye Blue” E.P. and sent them off for mastering. In the works: photoshoot, new artwork, more agressive booking / playing out… small summer tour? We shall see… also, this page will probably go through some sort of redesign in the near future, hence most of the links being missing.

timeline of a social networking website or service

justin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:53:14 +0000

1 ) start as a good idea

2 ) get adopted by some curious tech-savvy individuals

3 ) get adopted by some hipsters with tech-savvy friends

4 ) get adopted by college students

5 ) get adopted by the masses

6 ) get adopted by people who don’t even know why they’re signing up for it

7 ) become so convoluted with esoteric bullshit that people start to lose interest

8 ) become a wasteland of shameless self-promotion and product whoring

9 ) ???

10 ) Profit!

justin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:01:01 +0000

I Ain’t Freakin from Justin on Vimeo.

Goodbye Blue

justin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:51:38 +0000

Goodbye Blue from JVH on Vimeo.

more to come

love justin

working

justin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:13:44 +0000

sleeping the dream

justin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:44:03 +0000

i don’t mind having a job that i like and that i excel at, especially when they give me hours that i like. having evenings free is wonderful because i don’t think well until about 8 or 9pm anyway. and the truth is never told between 9 and 5.

i have to crawl through an enormously impossible cave this weekend – finishing things that can finally be finished, turning coal into diamonds, teaching stones to talk, etc. i hope i make it through.

also, i haven’t put up much music lately because:

a) i haven’t worked on any of my own recordings in a little while, i’ve been producing my friend jessi spreitzer’s e.p. (a crazy process because we had maybe 4 days of tracking, one in july, one in september, one last week, and one maybe in august or something) and it was recorded in like 4 or 5 different locations due to both of our transient natures. it was a crazy process that re-ignited my faith in community (kind of.) i’m working on the final mixes right now.

b) i’m rehearsing with a real live rock band now. i am being backed up by a brian ferwerda who plays bass (brother of the bass player from the amazing chicago-based band horse and the sea) and justin bardolph drumming (who is coincidentally the nephew of my favorite music store owner). ben abney is also a part of it, playing keys, guitar, harmonies, and yamaka, though he will be leaving shortly to move back to chicago.

we will be having our first performance this coming thursday at jessi spreitzer’s cd release show at skelletones, playing with some other amazing musicians. i’m starting to lose sleep which is usually a good thing.

also

justin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:36:11 +0000

for somebody who produced spinal tap and the wallflowers, elvis costello and gillian welch, and is pushing sixty, this song is just cool as hell.