And I have to say folks, I’m feeling really good about it.  Like surprisingly good.

You’ll recall that in my year-end retrospective, I tried to speak frankly about the cost and benefit of the Serious Business of releasing an album.  It probably won’t surprise you that at the time I was still sifting through a dizzying amount of blogs, trying to figure out where would be appropriate to send my record, and then firing (literal) scores of emails off into the ether, not knowing what if anything might return.  I don’t mean to be overdramatic, but it really is quite tedious, more so because there’s almost no way to evaluate one’s success or lack thereof.  I was still feeling this way as recently as two weeks ago, but in the last few days something’s changed.  I’ve crested some sort of hump I was struggling to get over, and now I am legit really excited about putting this record out again.

What changed?  Well, for one thing, my partner and I announced that we’re expecting a wee one in August!  We knew that people loved and supported us, but the outpouring of warm wishes was really overwhelming in the best possible way.  (There’s much more I could say about the prospects of being a parent seven short months from now, but not within this blog post.)  I got a bunch of my ducks in rows for the non-show aspects of the release: finished emailing all the blogs and publications requesting coverage, placed orders for LPs and t-shirts, picked up the CDs, worked on getting the tracks ready on iTunes, Spotify, etc.

And lo! Some of the fruits of my earlier toil have begun to appear. My first music video for my song “Tucson” dropped earlier this week, and was quite well received, despite an initial snafu regarding the spelling of the (ahem) title*.  And Christopher Millard over at Examiner.com wrote a really nice, thoughtful review of the record.  And then everyone has been so goddamn sweet about all of it, sharing the review and the video and the picture I took of the CDs when I picked them up.  Jesus, it’s like you guys really support me! *wipes tear*

So basically I’ve reached a point where 1) my to-do list for the release appears to have a finite number of items, few enough that I can keep them all in my field of vision if I step back, and it doesn’t seem insurmountable that I could actually complete them in the next couple weeks; and 2) I really just have the feeling that, barring some unforseeable catastrophe, there’s no way this couldn’t be a great fucking show.  I know what I need to do is remember to savor times like these, and remind myself of them when it’s feeling like a complete slog.

So regarding what I wondered in my last post: yes, I think it has been worth it.

This is going to be a good year.

See you at the show,

Shareef Ali

*This is super silly I know, but there are like 250 views on the initial video we put out. Add that to the 300 on the corrected one, and that’s already a couple hundred views more than any other video I have out. In like four days! Feels good :)

Another year to review, for no one’s benefit except my own really.  I’ll try to keep this brief.

This has been the year of Making A Record The Serious Way.  At the end of last year, I knew I had an album’s worth of material, my strongest yet, and I wanted to take a stab at Doing It Right.  Well, you know.   It’s all I’ve been talking about all year: mastering, crowdfunding, vinyl, videos, promotion, the whole nein.  There’s still a couple months left of all this business leading up to the RECORD RELEASE SHOW ON FEBRUARY 19!!!!!!  …But since we’re reflecting now, I’m gonna just go ahead and say, I don’t know if it’s worth it.

What I mean by ‘it’ is going super hard on the ‘business’ end of music and not hard enough on the music end.  Folks, I have been mostly unemployed for most of the past year, and let me tell you, it is trivially easy to make music your full-time job and forget to make music.  Of course there’s always more you can do on either end, but what I missed the most over this past year was touring–lord but I love traveling and seeing friends and playing music every goddamn night, what could be better really–and writing songs.

I will say that I was pleased and gratified that I was able to perform pretty regularly throughout the year as a result of being asked to join many bills.  It’s easy to lose sight of what I’ve ‘built’ over the past five years in this local scene, because it’s not something I can point to or touch, but I guess it really is the relationships, huh?  Aw, come here, alla youse, group hug group hug.

But I did write half a dozen songs, which I guess after the past five years or so of keeping track appears to be my low-water mark.  I can live with that.  Here they are, in order of appearance:

1. Fledgling Feeling (A Lone Damn Tin Piranha)
2. Lullaby (for Fynn) – I wrote this for my dear old friend Robyn on the occasion of her son’s birth.  Hadn’t really thought of it as a public offering, but I performed it at my last show to fairly good response, so maybe that’ll be a thing..?
3. Servant Wedding – In which I paraphrase (plagiarize) a lovely speech my friend gave at his wedding about spoon rings and love as resistance.  Haven’t gone public with this one yet, but sometime soon perhaps.
4. Tinder
5. The Anti-Capitalist’s Guide To Getting It On
6. David

I got a couple irons in the fire, also, but maybe those’ll make a nice head start in the new year.

Anyway, when I say “I don’t know if it’s worth it”, don’t think I mean I regret it or anything.  Just figuring it all out, y’know?  And *certainly* don’t think I’m not totally stoked for my ALBUM RELEASE FEBRUARY 19!!!!!!!111!!!  Because I am.

So yeah, goals for 2014, pretty simple really:

1. Put out this goddamn album.
2. Go on a gaddamn tour.
3. Write at least six (maybe twelve?) gaddumn songs.
4. Fucking A, put out another thing, why not?  There has, in fact, been talk of a split cassette with some of my fav indie artists.

Cheers, folks.

After being hell of broke for hell of long, I finally scraped together enough coins last week to download Rin Tin Tiger’s new full-length disc Splinter Remedies, which came out at the end of August. I think I’ve put it on at least once every day since then.

When I first saw the emo-folk duo Westwood & Willow that would grow into Rin Tin Tiger a few years back, I was struck right away by their acerbic attitude, obvious musicianship and sharp songcraft. But things really started to get interesting when Mr. Andrew added his give-no-fucks garage rock drumming into the mix; suddenly there was this powerhouse of a band, all shouting and playing the shit out of their instruments and generally making way more of a racket than an acoustic guitar-fronted three-piece has any business doing.

Rin Tin Tiger grew up a lot on this record. Though always clever and self-aware, there was a note of angst in some of the band’s early material like “Red Pony” and “Ghost Door” that’s now been tempered with some good old-fashioned cynicism. “Go on now, leave me with bad feelings, and we’ll both get some good writing done,” shrugs frontman Kevin in the rollicking Piedmont-picking folk singalong “Aluminum”.

Splinter Remedies accomplishes that enviable, paradoxical feat of asserting a band’s voice more confidently by actually tackling more styles, not less.  The band gets positively raucous on numbers like “Michelangelo” and “Precaution”, with Sean’s throbbing, asymmetric bass lines and Andrew’s rabid-hound thrashing underscoring stark, deranged lyrics reminiscent of At The Drive In.  And while RTT has always traded in the blues, most notably on the song “Toxic Pocketbook”, they sink even deeper into that cool mud with “Waterfront Blues”, which contains some of Kevin’s most biting lyrics to date: “I’ll pay a handsome ransom to retrieve that hostage sense of myself…I’m tired of making you come.”  Yet their familiar ground of countrified crooning is firmer than ever beneath their feet on such tearjerkers as “Haunted Now” and “Suffer No More”.

It’s my feeling that even some of the most beloved albums are weighed down a little by at least a song or two that just isn’t up to snuff (see: Radiohead, “Bones”).  But while I’ve got my favorite moments, I wouldn’t call any of the twelve songs on Splinter Remedies duds.  Besides having eclectic, interesting tunes, with all three members exploring the full melodic, rhythmic and textural palettes of their respective instruments (and all being fine singers to boot), Rin Tin Tiger seems to have achieved the power trio equivalent of using every part of the slaughtered beast.  I’ll leave it to them to divulge who’s the skull, the horns or the bladder.

You can stream and download Splinter Remedies here.

We’re making a video for the new record (actually a couple, hopefully).  Do you wanna be in it?  Or give a hand?

Things I’m looking for:

• people who can lend costume elements, including hats, ties, glasses and blazers
• people who can stand around looking cool in the background (for female-identified folks, looking cool in drag)

This would be all volunteer, but I’d feed you and give you a free copy of the new record. Likely shooting date is still TBD, but probably about a month from now.

Interested? Message me at shareef@shareefali.com, and I’ll tell you more of the deets!

Hey folks. My Indiegogo campaign is officially over! This’ll be my last note on it. I just wanna say thanks to EVERYONE, not just folks who donated, but everyone who blasted the campaign out to their circles, everyone who encouraged or congratulated me, and everyone who just put up with having that in their social media stream 24/7.

As an anti-capitalist, it seems to me that there are few relations that are more fraught than asking for or being asked for money. The fact that we need this invention to pursue creative projects, but we also need it to eat, to keep a roof over our heads, to pay off our debts, and this leads to uncomfortable, unresolvable comparisons about who ‘deserves’ to have money. In the world I dream of and fight for, we would all have the things we need and deserve to survive AND lead rich, fulfilling lives, and not one of those things would be money.

But in this world, I recognize that scraping together a chunk of cash for a friend, comrade or new acquaintance and trusting that they’ll use it to create something meaningful and true is really a profoundly generous act. I am deeply touched and humbled by all of you, and I don’t take a single cent for granted.

Also, I promise not to do this again for AT LEAST three years.

Hi folks,

The crowdfunding campaign to fund the release of A Place to Remember the Dead is almost over!  All in all, it’s been a very gratifying, touching, humbling experience.  Thank you so much to everyone who’s helped out.

Right now, we’re sitting at 60% funded, with four days left on the clock.  It’s not an all-or-nothing campaign; I’ll still get the money raised even if we don’t reach 100%.  I’m prepared to adjust my budget and goals for this release based on that, but I’m still hopeful that we can make it here in the last couple days.  Also, Indiegogo takes a smaller cut if you meet your target, so I’d really like to do that to maximize the value of everyone’s contributions.

Please check it out if you haven’t yet!  Remember that for donations of $5, $10, giving is essentially like pre-ordering the album, except you actually get the digital download months in advance of the official release.  Thanks everyone!!

<3

Shareef

Dear blog readers,

Gosh, I’d meant to post something here last Friday when the campaign went live, but you know how it goes.  Anyway, I’m thrilled to report that as of this writing, we’re already more than 21% funded! :D

There’s a whole pitch on the campaign page, but the long and short of it is that I’m incredibly proud of this record (you knew that already) and I’d be thrilled and gratified if you helped out at any level (probably knew that too).

Also note that any donation of $5 or up has a reward of an advance digital download.  Basically it’s kind of like pre-ordering the album, but better, because you get to hear it months in advance of the ‘official’ release.

Thanks folks!

 

Hey everyone,

So I’ve been in the studio recording for my next full-length album for a few weeks now, and am probably overdue for an update on how that’s all going.  But there’s a more immediate thing I wanna tell you about first, and potentially get some of y’all involved in.

As you probably know, I was involved in the Occupy Oakland action and mass arrest that happened on January 28 of last year, and I wrote a song about it.  You can hear a live version of it here, and read the lyrics at the bottom of this post (obvious trigger warning for the events of that day, and police repression generally).  This is definitely a stand-up-fight-back kind of song, so I’d like to invite comrades, radicals, anyone involved in the struggle to be a part of the recording that we’re about to make.

What this will basically entail is showing up this Tuesday afternoon at 3 PM to Shipwreck Studio in Oakland, all standing in a room together, and singing/shouting along to some parts of the song.  Definitely the last verse, maybe some other lines here and there too.  In the final mix your own individual voice won’t really be distinguishable, it’ll just sound like a crowd.  The whole process will probably take a few hours.

Other things to note: I can’t pay you.  I do intend to make the song available for free download, as I did with the first song I wrote about Occupy, “Witness”, but it will also be included on my album, which I will be selling (but also giving away a lot, as I tend to do).

Anyway, if you’re interested and available, I would love for people to be involved in the archiving of this song.  Email me at shareef at shareefali dot com.  The only preparation is to listen to the song once or twice with the words; it has changed a little since the live recording above, but I’ll send a more current version once we’re confirmed.

Excited to share this with you.

Shareef

*   *   *   *   *

“Stone’s Throw (J28)”

“The fight is dead,” the riot cop said as he sat me on the curb
with my cramping wrists, piss and apple cider vinegar.
Though I’m trembling still, from nerves and chill, I will have to call your bluff
if you think you can stop this struggle with a pair of ziptie cuffs.

A clear sky storm of flash-bangs, beanbags, hazy and surreal;
a scarlet letter spray-painted on a makeshift trashcan shield.
But they tossed our stuff before they loaded us on a stolen public bus:
goggles and a spray bottle, the only LAW I trust.

They held us twenty to a tank of cold concrete and steel,
where you’ll lose your mind trying to keep time by counting orange peels.
I don’t know which is worse, missing the warm bath of daylight,
or waking every hour to the same fluorescent night.

I got released to a fast food feast on the front steps of the jail,
but we know our work ain’t finished until we empty every cell.
So you can ban us from the Plaza, stay away from City Hall,
but sure as we burned that flag, that edifice is gonna fall!

So we rage on like a Greece fire, I heard they torched a bank today.
And we raise a fist to Cairo, we’re just a stone’s throw away.
If you’ve got a pot to piss in, don’t be afraid to call it black,
or you’ll never break the kettle and take your city back.

I’m in the process of transferring things over to my newly redesigned site on WordPress, and so two of my bits of ‘praise’ that are preserved in the form of screenshots need to find a home here.  So, reliving past glories, here’s the time Amanda Palmer retweeted my Occupy song (hilarious mentions before and after left in, of course):

 

And here’s some sweet words that Pete Kane said about the Folksonomy on the MSN Postbox blog (which honestly is awful and completely unviewable, let alone permalink-able):

I’m writing this from my friend’s laundry room in Oklahoma City.  I’m in the midst of a slow drive from St. Louis back to Oakland, so it’s been great to see friends but difficult to find downtime to write.

Twenty-twelve.  What a year.

Most of all, this past year was marked by politics, a shift that had begun with my involvement with Occupy in the fall of 2011 but has since deepened into a more serious devotion to radical change.  Of course there was no one moment, but probably the single most catalytic step was J28: my arrest, recovery and reflection, and recommitment to the struggle.  As I’ve continued down this road, I’ve found a new circle of friends and comrades who are on the same path that I am, though some further ahead.  I’m incredibly enriched and gratified to know that I’m part of a heritage of folks fighting for justice and liberation.  Most of all, I want to shout out to my dear friend Brian Belknap, whose experience and wisdom has been a huge inspiration on this journey.

(Here I’m gonna do that thing you should never do and give a disclaimer.  At the height of the Occupy movement, I was blogging regularly, seeing myself as some kind of arsehole citizen documentarian.  I haven’t gone back and reread many of these entries, but I’m certain that they’re riddled with naivete and contradiction.  But I’ve left them up, partly for transparency’s sake, but mostly because I think they may actually have some value as a real-time record of one stumbling into radical politics.)

I also got married this year, which surprised no one but was more delightful than expected.  I turned thirty, and promptly gained thirty pounds, which might have something to do with the fact that I also retired from vegetarianism after nine years (if you think I feel like telling you why right now, think again).

As for my music goals.

I had my second most prolific year yet as a songwriter (after 2010), and I daresay that some of them are my best yet.  Which I say every year!  I know I’m on the verge of sounding obnoxiously perky, but I feel like I have every reason to believe my best is still ahead of me, and I feel very thankful for that.

Here’s the list:

1. Stone’s Throw (#J28)
2. Nancy (Death To Capital)
3. Fashion Survivor
4. Claire, Luz, Light
5. There’s A Reason To My Rage, There’s A Folly To My Fear
6. Suffer Song
7. I Want To Kiss Death
8. Reno
9. Marigny Love Song

Six of these will be on the new album!  More on that in a little bit.

—–

(continuing writing from Austin, TX)

I did two Northwest tours this year.  I’m starting to get into the rhythm of working that circuit every six months or so.  I also played awesome one-off shows in New Orleans and St. Louis.

Not least of all, I got myself fired from a job I had grown to hate, and have been happier ever since!

Okay.  Now I really have just one goal for the year.  And that’s to record a new full-length album, the best one yet, and to do a really, really good promotion for its release in the fall.

It’s hard to convey how excited I am about this.  I think I’ve got a more consistent body of great songs ready to lay down than I have ever before.  And the arrangements I’ve been playing with over the past year, with Maia Papaya on upright bass and vocals, or Brian on lap steel, are I think at just the right level for these tunes.  They add a great deal of richness and soul without covering up the song.  Not least of all, I’m planning to take my time with the recording process, not rush anything, and even spring for mastering.  Shoot, maybe I should put this mug out on vinyl, for all that…

This is the first time I’m not trying to rush a record out the door, in time for tour, for a farewell show, etc.  I love the last three records I (and the Folksonomy) have put out, but there are of course moments that could have been better executed, as there always will be.  But I do have the luxury this time of minimizing them by having time to reflect.  And on the promotion end, I can really give myself a good six months or so to put together a really solid campaign and make the biggest splash possible.

Oh, I guess I do have other goals too, like exercising and being a good stay-at-home partner and of course continuing to tour the Northwest and such.  But this is the main one, I really am itching to share this record with you.  I think it’s gonna be so good!  With all that ahead of me, I’m really just itching to get back to the Bay and dig in.  But right now I’m gonna go explore Austin.

xoxo

Shareef Ali