Lipstik - The New American Heart Rock

Playing with Mystery and Honesty

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

The idea that rock stars specifically and artists more generally should remind clouded behind a veil of mystery is fairly widely accepted. Being too available, it is held, inevitably leads to the demystification of a persona. The alluring rock god becomes normal. Thus, it seems like one must work fairly aggressively to manage and monitor their outward facing persona to ensure that it conforms with the appropriate amounts of mystery and intrigue. At the same time, the internet and social web technology and platforms push us in the opposite direction. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter -- all work best when lots of content is created on a regular basis. Those tools then push that content out over the web, the information gets indexed, and popularity rises as Google and other search engines catalog and represent this personal information back to the world at large. The social web works best when people push themselves to share more, to articulate more, to self-publish more.

Happy Birthday to Me

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:04:00 GMT

I was born a few years ago on this day, July 19th. Thanks Mom and Dad. It's been fun so far.

Rockwood Music Hall - September 1st

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:17:06 GMT

Finalizing the details for a show at Rockwood on September 1st at 10pm. We've been trying to get a gig at Rockwood for awhile. It's the perfect space to debut some of the new material and it's the right tone for the flavor of some of these new tunes. Tentative lineup would include the folks that contributed to the record including Bill Dobrow, Robby Jost, Pete Lalish, and Matt Ray. I may try and get Paul to do some laptop schmutz on top of things to Brillify the ambiance. We shall see.

Micro-Celebrity

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:30:00 GMT

We are in the era of the micro-celebrity. When you tell your friends about this observation and remark that it's a fascinating characterization of a truth that everyone intrinsically knows, please give me credit. Because I invented the phrase micro-celebrity.

Spoon at Prospect Park

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:48:14 GMT

Last night E and I ventured into Brooklyn to catch Spoon at Prospect Park. The night did not begin well. I failed to look up the right subway stop and was going just on the Prospect Park website which tells you you can take any number of trains to get there. I'm such a Manhattanite that after living in New York for a collective six years I'd still never been to this place which is just as striking and beautiful, albeit smaller, than Central Park. We take the B all the way, get out just as the sun is setting in what seems like a questionable neighborhood and quickly realize we're on the opposite side of the Bandshell where the bands perform. So I convince my beautiful wife to hoof it across the park despite the general lack of people, the absence of good lighting, the eery setting of the sun and the darkened paths through the woods. She wasn't very pleased about the affair although we made it in one piece.

The Boom and The Bap: Building a Dance Song

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:35:35 GMT

I've been working on this dance song I'm calling Pastoral at home. Building dance music on a computer is a rather enjoyable experience particularly with modern technology that lets you 'snap to grid' and that gives you the ability to visualize every bar.

In the Studio

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:18:49 GMT

Today, we're doing strings for five songs on the new record. Should be exciting. Some standard charted stuff for the song 'Dirty White Coats' which is turning into a beautiful, dark lullaby. Also, going to try some fiddle on 'Don't Look Away' and 'North Bay'. Finally, we managed to snag Rob Burger, famed multi-instrumentalist, to play on a couple of tracks. He's laying down some lap steel, piano, accordion and, possibly, pump organ, before heading out on the road with Sam Beam and the Irish guy from Once. Very excited. Meanwhile, I have 7-8 new song ideas that I need to document at some point. Every time I pick up the guitar these days a new little melody floats out. Assembling them into songs is the next step and sitting down in front of Pro Tools and/or Garageband to noodle on some ideas is also important. Here are some titles: - To all you folk singers - Get yourself together - That's all Then there are others that I'm not remembering right now. Until next time.

Recording

Wed, 21 May 2008 23:44:40 GMT

Putting pieces in place for yet another Lipstik EP titled 'Bunker Hill'. Made some mention about it in the past. Genre is 'space country'. We'll see how it goes.

'There Is Only One Thing' Official Release

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:35:54 GMT

The new EP is officially released tomorrow. Just in time, a new review from Broadtexter where we've been selected as one of their Weekly Top Artists: Here's the full quote: "One of the most impressive parts of Lipstik would have to be the voice of lead singer Sam Jacobs. Sam has the type of rich vocal qualities that great singers are just born with. The latest album is full of americana/folk rock tunes, however, their cover version of Tom Petty�s �Yer So Bad� might be one of the best covers I�ve heard since Shawn Colvin�s Cover Girl album - Sam�s laid back vocal quality and phrasing reminds me of the great Steve Earle." Thanks, guys!

There Is Only One Thing Soft Opening

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:44:08 GMT

The new EP is available: CD Baby or through iTunes The reviews have started to come in as well "This is a record for a late night or a lonely drive, born of "getting broken and knocked around" - a quick yet powerful listen. Very satisfying!" - Used Wigs "raggedly stunning" and "pure alt-folk gold" - Cover Lay Down "simple soulful and beautiful" - Allan's Musical World "almost a perfect little pop song" - Enough Cowbell We'll also be featured in podcasts on Coverville and Used Wigs. More to come!