Obscure Objects

Website Redesign

2009-01-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

Recently, the Flash mp3 player I was using for www.dankinsley.com started pooping out and after multiple attempts to obtain service from the pettifogger who sold me the software, I decided to find a free Flash mp3 player out there on the interweb.

With web design, when you change one thing, it seems that everything else has to change. This is similar to rearranging a room. Once you move the couch, everything else looks out of place.

So, go over to www.dankinsley.com and check out the new arrangement. It's much easier to use, navigate and listen to the music. And all the music is still free. I'm planning on adding some new content pretty soon.

Your obscure musical prole,

Dan Kinsley

Dan Kinsley Performs Live

2008-11-05T06:37:00.000-08:00

I'm performing live in the Big Apple
November 15, 2008
9:30pm
TENELEVEN
171 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
http://mrfwood.com/events/2008/11/081115T.html

I'll be playing songs from Antidepressant Blues and Obscure Objects as well as some new songs that have been sitting on the shelf of the woodshed.

Obscure Objects by Dan Kinsley (free album)

2008-08-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

The latest album from Dan Kinsley, Obscure Objects, is finished. It's been written, recorded, mixed and mastered and now it's downloadable, for free at dankinsley.com.

Special thanks to Rob Badenoch for providing all of his technical and moral support. He's been extraordinarily helpful with my fledgling attempts at recording. He's also one heck of a sound engineer, providing additional mixing expertise. He also mastered the album. An un-mastered album is like corn bread without butter or mashed potatoes without gravy; that is, dry and boring.

Special thanks also go to Matt Scheller for providing some great drumming on three of the tracks.

Please proceed to dankinsley.com and download the album for free.

I hope you like it. Let me know what you think of it here.

Also, you can always go to myspace and be my friend.

Thanks.

-Dan

Album Artwork for Obscure Objects

2008-07-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I put together 3 different versions of the album artwork for Obscure Objects. I liked them all enough that I felt I should give them all a home somewhere. So here they are:

It's so easy to become attached to every idea that pops up while auditioning different designs. I thought they were all strong enough. I ended up going with the first one, which can already be found over at dankinsley.com. If you happen to disagree with my choice, let me know.

The music is finished and mixed. Right now, I'm just trying to decide whether I should try mastering it myself or wait for sound-god extraordinaire Rob to take out his tools and tighten the aural bolts.

In the meantime, if you're so inclined, have a listen to the preliminary mix at dankinsley.com. Individual mastered mp3s will be available (for free download) as soon as the mastering is complete.

Obscurely Yours,

Dan

Nearing Completion

2008-06-25T07:27:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe I've been working on this current record since November of 2007. I've been fanatically recording the vocals (finally) and they're going along much more smoothly than the vocals did for Antidepressant Blues.

I've discovered many tricks and techniques. One of the major ones came from Andrew Bird's blog, which has been an endless source of insight, interest and inspiration for me. In one of the posts he writes about how sometimes the opposite of what you think is required is the solution to the problem. For instance, sometimes singing softly into a microphone will give the voice power and resonance that cannot be obtained from singing loudly. Counterintuitive, but true. On a related note, one day I asked my wife why everyone always seems to leave the room when I start singing. She delicately answered that she thought maybe it was because I was singing so loudly, which was understandable because as a vocalist on a stage, one has to project. But as a vocalist in a room around others, a speaking volume will suffice. Eureka! The combined insight of these two disparate viewpoints has caused me to rethink my approach to singing and I've been finding the recorded results really encouraging.

I've also rejiggered the tracklisting, after having recently uncovered a song that was originally written for record but scrapped back in December. It's now been put back in the lineup and two others have been taken out. The tracklisting as it stands now is as follows (in alphabetical order):

Before You Know It
Born To Cry
Country Road
God's Highway
Jealous Woman
Never Saw Her Comin'
Seven Nickels
The High Road
The Obscure Object of My Desire

In addition to finishing up the vocals and adding the finishing touches I have plans to create the album artwork and redesign the dankinsley.com website. So there's a lot of work yet to be done.

I'm already looking forward to the next project. I have 4 different records that I want to make. I wish there were more hours in the day. I wish the corporate jaws weren't so firmly lodged in my backside. I wish we could all just do what we love to do. Maybe that would make the world a better place. But then, if everyone were happy, no one would write sad songs, and that would be sad.

Sample This

2008-06-02T19:38:00.001-07:00

I've been working a lot on my most recent album project and finally have the following available to listen to:

1.) Click here for the first clip.

2.) Click here for the second clip.

3.) Click here for the third clip.

Hopefully I can finish it soon and move on. I've been working on it since November 2007 and hope to finish it before the end of the summer or earlier, if possible. Some of the songs were written around the same time that I was working on Antidepressant Blues and are getting a little long in the teeth, creatively speaking.

Ah well. Enjoy if you're out there enjoying. If you're not, I'll pretend you are and continue making music just for you.

...with a broken upright in hand

2008-05-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

My latest album project, entitled "Obscure Objects" is entirely written and about halfway recorded.

I have an upright bass with a crapped out bridge. I have the new bridge, but I still need to have it fitted, which costs a decent chunk of change. Hopefully I can come up with the money (or at least justify spending it) so that I can get on with finishing the record. I've been waiting to get it fixed before working on the record. I've decided that the best bet is to just keep working on it, even without a working upright bass. The mother of invention, as they say, is necessity. Often, there is some ingenious solution lurking in the recesses of desire.

Here's a preliminary list of the tracks that will be on the record (in alphabetical order):

Before You Know It
Born To Cry
God's Highway
Heartbroken Shoes
Jealous Woman
(Never Saw Her Comin') - not sure about this one yet.
Seven Nickels
The High Road
The Obscure Object of My Desire
Why Simply Say It

One of these days, I hope to implement some type of flash player to facilitate sharing preliminary tracks. I have more time on my hands since the unpronounceable broke up.

Lamentation

2008-05-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

The other members of THE UNPRONOUNCEABLE and I recently played our farewell show to a rowdy crowd of our fans at The Funhouse in Bethlehem, PA. I'd like to send out a thank you to anyone in attendance at that show who happens to find his/her way to this blog. And I'd like to thank anyone else who's supported us in any way over the last ten years. We ran a good race, saw some sights, met lots of wonderful people and realized the other night that we'd made a mark on the world - in the hearts and minds of other folks. Which is all I've ever really hoped for, when all is said and done. For a wonderful synopsis of the night (along with beautiful photography) check out Bill Kates' blog here.

I plan to keep busy writing and performing music. I'm currently working on my latest solo album, entitled "Obscure Objects". My first solo album, entitled "antidepressant blues" can be found for free here. I plan to start performing the new material live one of these days. As soon as I work out all the kinks.

Thanks again. I love you all.

Phew! That was close.

2008-04-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

For a minute there, I nearly lost my senses. Or rather, I did lose my senses. I'm not sure what made me think that creating an animated video was in my best interest. Something about the mumblings and ramblings I've read were fueling notoriety-obsessed tendencies. I thought if I'd made a video and posted it on YouTube, it would only be a matter of time before I became so wildly famous that I quit my part-time job and start making music full-time. Alas, I was most certainly breathing in the intoxicating fumes of self-deception.

Consequently, instead of documenting my abortive adventures into animation, I'll try my best to document the making of my next full-length album.

I'll probably be seduced by the succubus of self-doubt and be lax in doing so, but does it really matter? Does anyone besides me actually read this thing?

I didn't think so.

More Storyboarding

2008-02-27T20:38:00.001-08:00

Drawing more storyboards for the animated music video for Dirty Ground.

Will post a clip of the movie as it becomes available.

In the meantime, listen to Dirty Ground here.

Inner Filmmaker

2008-02-22T05:07:00.000-08:00

I had a concept for a music video float into my awareness a while back and scribbled a very crude storyboard of the first few verses/scenes. After daydreaming for a few days about having the means to actually make a video I decided that the stars in my eyes were getting in the way of things that could actually be done and put the idea away.

But that roughly scrawled-upon slice of 8.5 x 11 kept turning up, finding its way out from beneath bills and other concerns. I found myself watching moving pictures superimposed upon the background of my thoughts and decided that maybe I could make an animated film.

After mulling that over for a while I promptly decided that an animated film was just as impossible as a live action film and put the idea away again. Again it would find its way back into my consciousness unabated, practically begging me for fruition. Finally, I succumbed to the calls of my inner filmmaker and decided that I would go to work on an animated music video featuring one of the songs from my recently release album Antidepressant Blues.

I hope to finish the darn thing within the next month or two and release it out into the wild via dankinsley.com and youtube. I plan to leak segments highlighting its progress via this dandy outlet.

End Transmission.

ANTIDEPRESSANT BLUES by DAN KINSLEY: FREE ONLINE ALBUM

2008-02-21T06:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Dan Kinsley's online-mental-effluvia-repository. I appreciate your having navigated here and hope that your stay is both enjoyable and enriching.

I'll jump right in with an announcement:

With the help of multiple cups of coffee, a couple Beefalo Brothers, some borrowed microphones and a hand-me-down computer I've just finished recording Antidepressant Blues, my first solo record.

The project, which started as a narcissistic exercise in musical catharsis, has since gone on to become a vortex unto itself, slurping down hours and hours of my time into its greedy belly. After playing a few tracks for friends and family I decided that maybe the music didn't totally suck and decided to release it in its current form: ONLINE FOR FREE.

If you'd like to reach me, please feel free to visit one of my online homes: myspace or dankinsley.com.

So, without further adieu, please proceed to dankinsley.com to download Antidepressant Blues. While your at it, please tell your friends you found them something nice and point them there as well.

Thanks.