UNICEF Benefit

In observance of the holiday season, we will be donating $1 from every Glad Hearts album sold through our web site between now and New Year's Day to UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund.

If you would like to support UNICEF directly, you can do that most efficently at their web site. If you've been meaning to get a Glad Hearts record, but haven't got around to it yet, here's your chance to do that and help others at the same time:

Glad-Hearts.com/store

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Cheers,
Ryan and Glad Hearts

Jeff Mangum Live!

According to International Tapes, Jeff Mangum played at The Schoolhouse in Bushwick the other night. Going by the set lists posted online and the live recordings posted on International Tapes, he played a lot of great Neutral Milk Hotel songs. Enjoy!

-Ryan

The Ugliest!

I showed up to an ugly holiday sweater contest the other night in this little handmade number...


While at the party, I also learned this:

My Bud: Oh, tongue out for good luck, I see.

Me: Huh?

My Bud: Tongue out means good luck. When a hunter takes a kill photo after shooting an animal, if the animal's tongue is out, that is good luck. A lot of hunters will pull the tongue out for the photo, but the best luck is if the tongue is already out when you find the body.

Me: Ohhhhh!

My buddy must have been right, because me and puffy-paint Rudolf took home first prize. Those with a keen eye for fashion will recognize a similar puffy-paint motif in my onesies from last season. Puffy-Paint=Second best $5 I ever spent*.

*First best $5 we ever spent was getting a second key made for the van before leaving for tour. We would have been locked out of the van at least three times otherwise.

-Ryan

The Antlers

I swear before I was in a band I kept much better tabs on this stuff. Now sometimes I get so wrapped up in practicing, recording, and playing shows that I miss a lot of really good music. And so it is that only today I find out about The Antlers, and their awesome, new (to me) record, Hospice.

This is a record I know I'm going to have to listen to over and over again, probably while driving alone at night.

Update 3 December: So good it makes my stomach hurt.

-Ryan

Pie Fight

Awesome.

-Ryan

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tofurky photo by quarrygirl.com

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

I go for the Tofurky myself, but whatever you ate, I hope you spent some good times with family and friends.

Whatever your diet, though, the story of the Tofurky is actually pretty inspiring.

-Ryan

The Hardest Math

As much as I don't like to think about my life in this way, I broke down the math today...

168 hours per week

56 sleeping
45 working
10 eating
10 doing chores
10 recreating
7 in transit

leaves...

30 hours for music, which is both a great gift and nowhere near enough.

-Ryan

No One Said It Would Be Easy

I got to see Cloud Cult put on a beautiful show last night! The movie about them, No One Said It Would Be Easy, is amazing, too.

-Ryan

Enjoy Your Rabbit

photo from yocheckthisjam.com

I am a total sucker for a good lyric. Frightened Rabbit got me today:

"I am armed with a past and a will and a brick...I am armed to the teeth and I'm heavyset."

Of course, you have to hear it.

-Ryan

The Brass Ring

photo by Brooklyn Vegan

photo from WHYY

Holy crap! I heard Screaming Females on NPR. In the nerdiverse I consider myself to inhabit, I'm pretty sure that means they have offically "made it." Congratulations all the way to the Females!

-Ryan

Hunchback And The Ergs Reunite For A Benefit Show

The mighty Hunchback and The Ergs back together at Asbury Lanes for one night only to raise money to help the Nixon family with Jackie Nixon's battle with cancer! Tickets go on sale Monday, 25 Oct; show is Sunday, 5 Dec.

Amost 500 people have already RSVPed on Facebook. I will see you there. (Edit: or maybe not? Tickets sold out before I could get one! Maybe they'll add another show?) (Edit: They did; I went; it rocked!)

-Ryan

This Saw Can Sing

photo by Anthony Battiato

John Valencia, who played in Glad Hearts for a long time, could play a mean singing saw (among a lot of other things). In 2009 he even played in the world's largest singing saw ensemble. Today, I came across a video of it. (John's in green in the back).

Here's John playing the saw on "The Tired Doctor."

-Ryan

A Question:

"Who wouldn't be a wicked clown for $1o million a year?"

Our Band Could Be

Back when I had no bandmates, no idea how to record music on my own, and no idea if I could actually write a song anyone would want to hear, I kept this book next to my bed permanently.

No matter how exhasted I was after coming home to a house with no heat after 10-14 hours of working my day job, I would be sure to practice for at least one song and read at least a few lines from this book every night. Sort of like how I imagine pioneer famlies saying their prayers and reading from the Bible every night before bed.

The first few chapters of Michael Azerrad's biography of Nirvana was one of the first things that made me want to be in a band, and Your Life kept me on the path when things got rough. So: thanks, Michael Azerrad.

Some of what Phil Freeman says about this book may be true, but I still love it. Any criticism of the book is best answered in the introduction when Azerrad says something like, "There are plenty more books to be written about this subject; I invite you to write one of them." I look forward to reading all the books and hearing all the music inspired by this book.

Cheers,
Ryan

Jake Swearingen, You Did It Again

Another hilarious journal. Three-way tie for my favorite line in this, but the contenders are:

"Anything worth stealing has already been stolen by people braver than me."

and

"If you had told me four months ago I'd be overjoyed to be sleeping with a bunch of armed rednecks that I'm like ninety percent sure are soaring on meth, I would have laughed and laughed. Life, it comes at you strange sometimes, you know?"

and

"And here's how everything can change."

-R

Are You There, God?

This is my favorite zombie story since Romero's Dawn of the Dead.

-Ryan

Baby Clothes

Some of my friends are having babies, so Alex and I made some clothes for those babies.

If you are a baby and you would like some clothes like this, send me your size (Watermelon, Breadbox, or Medium-Sized Dog) and the name of your favorite cocktail/late 80s experimental guitar band, and I'll see what I can do.

xoxo,

Ryan

Target Practice

We took a break from recording to help control the local Pabst beer can population.

Bob and Patty

I know summer's almost over, but I came across this photo in the libarary the other day and wanted to post it. I miss having a fire escape. I used to have a really good one, too. Excellent view and extra scary.

On The Spot

Spotify seems like it's going to be pretty cool when it finally becomes available in the US. Apparently you don't really have to wait, though.

In a few years (months?) I guess filling multiple hard drives with downloaded MP3s will be the equivalent of carrying a Discman (and spare batteries, natch) with you everywhere you went. I am still really glad I did both of those things, though.

-Ryan

Blessed, Blessed, Ludwig Van

Photo by 2create

I got my first synthesizer! We borrowed a Microkorg to use on The Oak and the Acorn, but we only really cracked the surface.

It's cool to be able to edit sound with such detail, but with ultimate power comes the ultimate responsibility: to not be cheesy.

I'm psyched to see where this goes. Any tips?

-Ryan

Ears To The Western Soil

photo by Nicolas Genin

So, I know I'm repeating what 50 million record-buyers worldwide have alreday said, but I still gotta say: OMG, Ennio Morricone.

-Ryan

Communipaw And A Cat Called Cricket

Communipaw

A Cat Called Cricket

I was pretty excited to learn our New Brunswick buds, Communipaw, will be playing with our Baltimore buds, A Cat Called Cricket, at A Cat Called Cricket's record release party at Charm City Art Space in October.

It's going to be a great night, and I would probably not know any of the people involved if it wasn't for touring and playing shows. So, three cheers for touring and playing shows!

The Beechfields, the collective that is putting out the Cat Called Cricket record, is an amazing Baltimore-based community of musicians.

If you're interested in going to the show, drop me a line.

Cheers,
Ryan

You and Your 424, Thank You!

I'd like to thank all the people I know personally who have recorded their own music and made it available to me. When it's still dark in the morning and I leave the house to drive to another ten hour stretch at work, nothing keeps me hopeful like music made by somebody I know in real life.

It's an important reminder to me that the really important part of life, the part beyond just going to work and consuming, is really possible and accessible. Thanks.

xoxo,
Ryan

Examined Life

We watched this after recording one night; it was really good. Cornel West's segment was the most fun, but all of the segements were interesting. It's always exciting for me to see philosophical questions overlaid on everyday life, and the movie did a good job of that.

I wish there'd been a segment of someone talking about whether a person has a duty to cultivate his or her natural talents, and how far it's right to take that pursuit.

It was inspiring to watch, though, and for me a good reminder of the fundamental reasons I'm in a band in the first place.

-Ryan

Neutral Milk Hotel

photo by Will Westbrook

I just finished rereading the 33 and 1/3 on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for the third time. An amazing story of an amazing record.

I drove to Alaska and back, once, and during all night drives, when everyone else in the van was asleep, I'd just listen to Aeroplane over and over. If I have anything that could be called a religion, it is music, and records like this are part of the reason why.

-Ryan

We Are Now In Space.

The Oak and the Acorn can now be found at Spaceboy in Wilmington, DE. They have a bunch of cool other stuff as well, and they do a great job of supporting local artists of all kinds, so please support them if you can.

-Ryan

Satan's B-Day

Don't get me wrong, I love summer. But, as the thermometer whizzes past 100 again today, I'll admit I start to think about fall. Specifically, Halloween, which is totally my favorite holiday.

Last Halloween I went to a place in Philly called The Ox. It was definitely in my top 5 Halloweens yet. This being the night everyone gets to pretend to be someone else, they had a bunch of bands play all covers.

Rapid Cities did an amazing set of Fugazi covers and another band played all Neutral Milk Hotel. I never got to see either of those actual bands, so this was probably as close as I'll ever get, and it was pretty rad.

At midnight they had a demon summoning with candles and a pentagram and everything. They had even hung real chicken's feet from the ceiling of the "summoning room." It was dark except for the candles, so every once in a while one would graze your shoulder. No demon showed up, but there's always next year...

The Netherlands

Thanks very much to radiogirl on Dollard Radio out of Oldambt, The Netherlands for playing us on air.

Ohm...

© Elliott Landy, www.landyvision.com

I'm not a religious person, but I had a chance to spend a few days at an ashram, and it was a pretty cool experience. It was very inspiring to be among a group of people living according to their consciences in a sustainable community outside the mainstream.

I had also heard there was going to be a harmonium performance while I was there, but I think I missed it.

-Ryan

Everything Old Is New Again

We're so busy working on the new record that, unfortunately, we won't be able to tour this summer. The record is coming along really well, though, and as soon as it's ready to go we'll be ready to get back out on the road.

In the meantime, we have something else for you...

Our first EP, A Year in a Circle, which we released in 2007 as a very limited edition of 50 hand-made albums. There aren't any copies left, but people have been asking about it, so here it is to download:

A Year in a Circle

Enjoy and, as always, thanks for listening!

Cheers,
Ryan

I was wondering how long this would take...

It looks like we've reached what's become a milestone for music in the 21st century: Our songs have made their way onto the torrents.

On the one hand, I'm glad people are interested in the songs. On the other hand, it would be nice to be paid for the time, effort, (and money) we put into creating and recording them.

But, Internet, I think I have a pretty good idea of how you work, so I guess we'll just have to see where this goes...

-Ryan

We Climbed a Mountain!

It was awesome!:

photo by Mallory Leonard

photo by Imri Mahmudi

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John Valencia*, who is awesome, came by our practice space last night to help us get ready for recording. I am simultaniously in awe of and totally leary of the technical end of recording.

First let me say I regard it as something close to a miracle that sound can be recorded and replayed at all. I understand the theory behind it, but I'm still amazed that I can carry around thousands of hours of music in my pocket, let alone record my own songs in my house.

I am super impressed by people who have deep knowledge of the technical aspects of the recording process and are able to use the studio as another instrument.

At the same time, for myself, I just want to press record, perform the song, and have it sound good. I don't want the technical process of figuring out which cable goes where to take time and energy away from the creative process. So...hopefully that won't happen...

-Ryan

*John played in Glad Hearts from pretty much the beginning until pretty recently. He produced and engineered our EP and LP, and at one time or another, played pretty much every instrument in the band. He also played singing saw as part of the largest chorus of singing saws in the world.

Road Trip=New (To Me) Music

One of the many things I like about road trips with friends I haven't seen in a while is it's a great time to catch up on what they've been listening to. I got to go on a real nice trip with some buds this past weekend, and that's how I found out about We Were Promised Jetpacks.

Also, I know their debut is totally old meme by now, but I just got into Tapes 'N Tapes! Dyn-O-Mite. I need to pay better attention. How did I miss out on them for so long? (If you're going to ask me what happened to the other apostrophy, that's how they spell it. Grammarians should be score-keepers, not rule-makers.)

In other awesomeness, I just came across The Meters and have really been enjoying their stuff. To hear them tell it, "Despite a reputation as the finest New Orleans funk band ever, the Meters didn't get their full due in the first go-round back in the 1960s and '70s."

xoxo,
Ryan

Screaming Females Vanarchy

Here's a good story of an awful thing that happened to Screaming Females out on the road. Marissa is selling a bunch of her artwork to help them get a new van and get back out on the road. So, if you have the money, I'm sure they'd appreciate the help.

We had a brush with disaster ourselves last summer when Nancy Lou, our own beloved van, nearly died in by the heat of a Virginia summer. Through sheer luck, we had a much easier time getting back on the road, but that's a story for another time.

-Ryan

The Blog is Back!

I'll admit I let the blog slide for a bit. We're working on a new record, and I figured my time would be better spent writing songs instead of blog entries.

But, as we get ready to move forward with the new record, I took a look back at the blog and realized how glad I was to have a record of what we'd done. So, now that the songs are mostly written, I'm going to be more active on here to document the making of the record.

This is the first summer in two years we won't be going on tour, and I have mixed feelings about that. Of course, I'll miss getting out on the road, meeting new people, and the adventures that come along with touring. On the other hand, I am really excited to record our new songs. Doing it in the summer will give us a chance to record for a long stretch at a time rather than squeeze in sessions on nights and weekends around school and work.

We're going to record this new record ourselves at home, and I'm excited about that, too. As grateful as I was to get to work on part of The Oak and the Acorn in the studio, I'm interested to see what we come up with without the money and time constraints of "studio time."

I'll keep you posted...

-Ryan

In The Juke At The Shep!

Hot damn, here we are in a real live jukebox, in one of the best bars in Jersey, to boot, The Shepherd and The Knuclehead.