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Gooooooooaaaaaaaal!!!!!
June 23rd, 2010
Welcome to summer!
Hey everybody, coinciding with England's and USA's victories in the first round of the World Cup, I write you to give an update on all things Agnello!

It has been a remarkable 2 plus months since my last update. I've been incredibly blessed to have some great records come through my doorway!

First and foremost, the Dead Confederate record, "Sugar" will be coming out on my birthday, of all things! This record is really special. My favorite tracks, "Giving It All Away" and "Run From The Gun" should get plenty of airplay. I can't wait for these southern shit kickers to get on the road to support the record.

After a quick mix for a rising, Norwegian artist, Andre Holstad, I had a week off before starting a record with someone who is becoming my one of my favorites. And that man is Kurt Vile. He is a trip and a great artist. We took a 6 week break in the middle of the record while he and his lovely wife had a beautiful daughter.

And now that the record is just about mastered, I can tell you that it is really great. Kurt's a great singer and this batch of songs are really melodically beautiful. It's a bit on the mellow side, but it's one awesome song after another.

We had a blast making it, with trips to Amherst and Philadelphia. We had a great midnight drive back to my house from Amherst, where i tortured him with lots of '70's prog rock and other great records.

While I was breaking from his record, I started a record with a great band I had seen at Piano's last November. They are called Sherlock's Daughter.

The had approached me via internet and me and Sharon were blown away by their set. So after they relocated to Brooklyn, post SXSW, we got down to the business of arrangement and rehearsal of the songs.

It was awesome doing pre pro with them. Great band with great ideas and lotsa energy and talent. Fronted by the beautiful Tanya Horo, who I can honestly say is my favorite Kiwi.

So like the Kurt record, we took a 6 week break, which drove the band nuts, while I took a 2 week vacation around weddings and Mother's Day and then finished the Kurt Vile record.

We eventually got back to work finishing the Sherlock's Daughter and it was worth the wait. Not yet mastered, this record will knock your socks off.

Many instruments and rhythms and all these kids sing! It was a lot of fun making the record, whether we were hard at work or certain drummers were climbing trees naked or recording autoharp in the garden or bbq'ing at my house. Love these guys.

Kurt's record will out sometime in the Autumn. Don't know about the Sherlock's, but we'll see.

A couple of other thoughts. Also in the last months, I've been involved in some other shorter projects. Mean Creek, a new band from up in Boston are comers. They have a raw energy that will rip your face off. I did a 7" with them for Old Flame records and it was 2 awesome days. I hope to talk about a full length with them.

I mixed an EP for The Heavenly States. Great band from the west coast. I've known them for 5 years and Ted is one of the funniest guys I've ever worked with. Special guests on the EP include Britt from Spoon and Eugene Miramen!

Last and not least, I did a great record with a wonderful singer named Amy Bezunartea. She is the significant other of Jennifer O'Connor and boy she has a great voice. In fact they sing great together. That record is being mastered right now by Alan Douches. Very Excited!

Looking back on the year so far, it's great to have been involved in so many cool projects. Like last year, the first two quarters have been exciting.

And if any of you haven't heard, my 6 month stay at Work's End, err I mean Worlds End did not go so glowingly. So I am back to working with my dear wife, Sharon. We are more of a mom and pop organization anyway. And this way, I know how I'm being represented and I know what projects I'd like to go for. Okay, be well everyone!

 
Spring Is Vile!
March 26th, 2010
March is in like a Vile and out like a Lamb.
Happy spring everyone. Last week was notable for a few things. First, I spent 5 days doing the Master Cleanse. http://themastercleanse.org/ It was a trip. I felt kinda high the first few days, but as day three started, I really was getting into it. I lost some pounds, felt much better by the end of the week, and exorcised a few demons brought on during the Dead Confederate record.

The key to me getting through it was keeping super busy all week, so I did my taxes, worked on my storage unit, etc, etc. That took my mind off of the fact the I was living off a liquid diet. Gotta say, I'm psyched to do it again for maybe a week or so.

I assimilated myself back into the world of food just in time to welcome Kurt Vile to NYC. We are recording his new record at my favorite studio in Manhattan, The Magic Shop. He is super talented and a wonderful guy. He writes some great songs and is this decades alt rock troubadour. We are in our first week of recording and the songs we've worked on sound great.

After taking the weekend off, we resume the record on my side of the Hudson River. At one of my favorite studios. Yes, you know..... Water Music Recorders. We have some really cool sounds and guest stars on this record and the Violators, Kurt's touring band, are well represented.

So here's to Kurt Vile, in the house, and a weekend off with the family and then back to it next Monday! Rock on, kids!
 
6 Months Later!
March 10th, 2010
Let's Catch Up.
As I sit here doing Stem Cell Research, aka, printing stems on this mix, I can't help wondering where the time has gone. It's been an interesting year so far.

Notable aspects include Obama dressing down 6 people in robes during his State Of The Union address, the wonderful month I spent with the great band, Dead Confederate, the ginormous amounts of snow that fell in February and the great holiday season that seems a million years away now.

The winter had a Jekyll and Hyde feel to it. I had a great time working with Nada Surf on their new record. We mixed a few songs at Headgear Studios in Brooklyn in December. This new record is super cool and Matthew sings the shit out of the songs I worked on.

Right before Thanksgiving, I spent a week mixing a record for a band called The Black Clouds. Look out for these up and comers. They are awesome and heavy and hail from Red Bank, NJ. They rock hard but their songs are melodic as all hell. It was a lot of fun working with them, apart from the day Dan ordered "Suicide Wings" for both of us for lunch. Suicide was pretty much the final answer after eating those fuckers.

I also hooked up with my buddy, Sasha and we did a cool remix of the Pylon song, "Yo Yo". It was a blast and was a departure for me, which made it really exciting. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. We had some guests on the remix, notably Alexis from Sleigh Bells. Man, she has a wonderful voice and damn, she can sing!

Also I spent a few days in December with the boys from Dead Confederate in their hometown of Athens. We did some pre production on the songs and really had a great time messing with the arrangements and stuff like that. By the time I got back the holidays were upon us.

January brought another trip to Athens to rehearse with the band. And it was a blast. These Dead Confederate guys are not only a kick ass band, they are super nice dudes. I returned to Jersey City to prepare for the band's arrival. And then the snow started ......

Those poor guys spent a lot of Super Bowl Sunday driving 5 miles an hour up I-95. But they finally made it to the studio and we commenced the rock the next morning.

We worked our asses off for 4 weeks and the record is done! And awesome. I can't wait to get the fucker mastered and get the band to finish the artwork and get this sucker out!

After collapsing at the end of the record in a heap of burnt brain matter, a relaxing weekend has me charged up to work on this latest offering. The artist's name is Andre Holstad and he is from Norway. With mutual friends in the band, My Midnight Creeps, he approached me to do some mixing for him. "Hate", the song I just finished was wonderful.

And I get to do my taxes next week and then await the arrival of Mr. Kurt Vile! We start recording his new record and I'm totally excited.

So now that we're caught up, I'll go back to my stem cell research.

Bye, y'all
 
Summer's Over!
September 10th, 2009
Wha' Happened?
Wow, and just like that the summer's over. It just seems like yesterday I was soaking in the 100% humidity that was August. And loving it.

It's been a busy month. I turned 50. My lovely wife, Sharon surprised me with a wonderful party and it was a blast. Surrounded by my favorite people. I missed a few buddies due to vacations and touring schedules, but most represented. And we raged. In fact, the 2 weeks surrounding my birthday were pretty full on.

We also spent some quality time with the family Dolan in Asbury Park soaking up rays and dipping in the pool.

And I spent some time mixing with a wonderful band out of Brooklyn called Apache Beat. They are a super cool band that has a sound all their own. Not sure when their record is coming out and who's putting it out, but they will be someone to keep an eye out for.

Other August notables include Jemina Pearl, playing two shows with John Eatherly and their new band. It was great seeing them live. She is truly a star. And keep an eye out for the first video from her record.

And last but not least, Sivert Hoyem's first single, "Moon Landing", was released to radio in Norway and made an immediate impact. The reports I had were that the song was being played everywhere. This bodes well for the CD release. Which probably be out in October.

And now September finds me in The Magic Shop mixing an EP with the biggest indie rock band in Spain, Los Planetas. Okay, that's what I got. Be seeing you in a few weeks.
 
The Norwegians Are Going!
August 7th, 2009
Man, that was quick!
Man, it seems like days ago when we started mixing Sivert's record. And now they are gone and me and the family are on our way to Asbury Park. We finished mixing on Tuesday night and mastered with the wonderful and talented Greg Calbi.

If you were a fly on the wall, you heard this a lot, "Okay, gold cable and now let's try the purple cable." The dude is such a wizard, we swapped cables on each song as opposed to just adding eq to them. And it worked!

But back to the mixing. Man, it was 14 days of awesome times and great music. Sivert and his right hand man, Cato, really did a wonderful job. The songs are great and the performances are totally vibey and rockin.

Sivert continues to be one of my favorite singers and here's why. Every song on the record has great vocals that were done within 3 or 4 takes of the song. I mean, he's a fucking machine. Err, wait, that's not what I mean. Singing machine. That's better.

So we mastered on Wednesday, had a wonderful celebration dinner on Wednesday night and parted ways on Thursday. The Agnello's to Asbury Park and the Nords to Norway on Friday. And I already miss them dearly. Can't wait to see them again. OSLO 2010!!!!!!!

The mastering sounds mighty and narrowed down to a ten song record, this will kill people. Figuratively. Between Madrugada and the Sivert solo records, I can't for the life of me figure out why these guys are huge in this country.

So now we party the weekend with our dear friends, Bill, Hillary and their daughter Sway.
S'okay by me!

Grab yourself a brew!
 



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