Grun-Tu-Molani

Here's the new spot with most of our instruments. (See last post for empty room and none of the new lighting we hung up).

A few tasty things on our plate...

1. We just moved into our new practice space, which happens to place us full circle back into the same building we started this whole project, at the completely unmarked practice spaces at North Avenue & Rockwell St in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. While the paint job may not be as nice as Superior Street, the walls are much thicker and the room is a lot less narrow. 24-hour elevator access always a plus.

2. We've begun a new method of recording our practices that has completely streamlined our process. Without the use of a computer or any pro-audio software to compress audio files, we're using our iPhones instead along with a free app called VoiceNotes that surprisingly records and compresses our practices in just as good of quality as our old actually-miced setup. After practice, we sync the app, upload to our private area, and then review between practices. Smooth as butter.

3. We'll be playing an after party to Pitchfork Music Festival at Quencher's on Friday, July 17. Andy and I will also be at Pitchfork enjoying Built to Spill, The Jesus Lizard, Yo La Tengo, and Tortoise. Keep y'all posted on when we go on that night or just find us at the festival!

4. The album... Ah yes, the album. Ryan Neuschafer of North Branch Studio is busy mixing and mastering it now, so we should have something within the next few weeks. Wait till y'all see the album's jacket design inside-and-out, mostly based on the work Ruth Ishbel Munro did.

Finally, thank you Jay Bennett for inspiring us all during your time on this planet. Godspeed.

In December, we posted a link to a site that rips on animals. In it, we mentioned how much we love animals but got a kick out of this site's irreverence towards the animal kingdom and one post in particular. That post featured prairie dogs and how fat and stupid they look. That site has no issue with us. But guess what... THIS DUDE left us an email indicating a major copyright infringement because we used one plain photo of a prairie dog he apparently shot, also featured on the funny anti-animal site. I wonder what he'll do when he finds the original site we grabbed the image from has 6,000 twitter followers and sells t-shirts.

We make no money, we're a freakin instrumental rock band and the dude must have just searched for "animals" or "animal sites" and came across ours.

...some people have nothing better to do, especially when their art is so mediocre.

Octopus, Penguin, Chupacabra, Dog, Zebra, Whale, Cougar, Mishipishu, Elephant

... just busy recording here and in New York. A bit of news:

1. We should have the roughs done within a few weeks and then we go to production. So far, the LP contains: Penguin, Whale, Octopus, Mishipishu, Cougar, Dog (maybe), Chupacabra, and Zebra.

2. We'll be launching a new site that WILL allow commenting. Unfortunately, we had to turn it off because this site is built on some very outdated machinery and we got massively spammed. Apparently, I need Canadian prescription pills and several more inches.

Check back soon and maybe we'll put some rough mp3s online too.

Thanks,
Chris, Andy, & Nix

We'll be playing a benefit show for Homeroom Chicago along with Blue Ribbon Glee Club and Leaves It's an $8 suggested donation and the doors open at 9pm. Hope to see you there! It's one of our biggest shows yet.

[ PHOTO REMOVED DUE TO LEGAL THREAT ]

Generally speaking, we totally support the kingdom of Animalia. Our good friends as VSL have brought to our attention a site that does not hold animals in high regard, and we freaking love it. Here's an excerpt from "Fuck You, Penguin":

"Hey Prairie dog, I didn't realize donuts were native to the grasslands of North America! You're so fat, you make a capybara look like an African pygmy mouse!

Seriously, though, Prairie dog. You are really fat. This makes it very difficult for me, because the fact that your feet aren't touching the ground and your arms are kind of hanging down on your fat folds is fucking cute as shit. Am I supposed to feel bad for you? Is this what you wanted, Prairie dog? Damn you and your scheming ways."

Live stream of our session recordings!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/grun-tu-molani

Update - Nov. 24: The Recording Session went really well, we got 8 tracks when we expected 6, had Chris Merrill guest playing electric and standup bass, and now have a great rough library. Will be perfecting trumpets, cellos, other instruments over the holidays and hopefully get mixing by mid-to-late January.

Thanks for anyone who watched us record.

We've been writing a lot and getting ready for our November 22 visit to the North Branch Studio to begin recording our next album, as of yet untitled. Here are two rough takes for your pleasure. (Please ignore the vocals on "Penguin" as they're just placeholders for the electronic keys we normally play live at our shows and will be doing so in the studio.)

>>> Chupacabra



>>> Penguin