New album by Maserati bassist's other band, Vincas.
"Saw Her" by Vincas, from Blood Bleeds (2012)
Stream the whole thing below, and buy it from Bandcamp. Vinyl edition is limited to 100 copies, for $12+ (plus d/l). There's also digital-only version for $5...
It's called Blood Bleeds and clearly sounds nothing like Maserati. Totally rockin' in a sorta-retro garage-punk way!
Just heard about this and flipped through the stream - wanted to pass on the vinyl limits post haste! Now I plan on flat-out diggin' on this... now.
A few people of note could use your (financial) help. Perfect transition on the Top 10, as we start with Grails. What, you thought we were done with them already?
According to the front page at Grails' own Pamlico Sound Mailorder, they are holding a "Donation drive to save corrupted hard drive containing up to 5 records of material!" They'll take whatever you can spare, but...
You can get a SIGNED LP (for $30 donation), or some unreleased early-ish LIVE TRACKS (for $15). These are: "Burden of Hope" (Paris 2006), "Back To The Monastery" (Boston 2006 - below), "Word Made Flesh" (Amsterdam 2006), "The March" (Paris 2004), and finally "Dargai" (Geneva 2006). Bas Ass, right?! I might donate twice for that.
Donate here. I even made you an exclusive crappy MS Paint "album" cover! [above]
Also, I found a few items on Woodsman's Facebook. Smooth transition on the Top 10 sliding scale, huh?
"Insects" [live 11/09/2010], from Rare Forms (2011)
To help fund their upcoming U.S. tour, they'd like to sell you some stuff! On the vinyl tip, a special collection of recent stuff - specifically, copies of the #2 of 2011 LP & EP, plus a 7" single of "Insects." All for $20!!, but only 20 total packages available...
They've also put up 2 early self-releases for sale on their Bandcamp site. That would be the Indoor Days cassette and the Humdrum CDr (both 2008). Stream and buy directly from those links - thanks!
And I just now found an older free Woodsman digital single from 2010, on BEKO-DSL: "Manual Control / Chants." Had never even heard about that one. You can also check out their Daytrotter Session, for Free D/L... (well, with free 7-day trial.)
Finally, there's a Kickstarter for Ad Hoc zine (ends March 5th), a new project by people from the dearly departed Altered Zones. You may remember AZ from such features as "half the MP3's on Astral compilations" or something like that.
"Miarches" by Forest Swords, from Dagger Paths (2011)
For $15, you can get a download comp of unreleased tracks by... Woodsman (#2, 2011)! The Caretaker (#10, 2011)! Forest Swords (#21, 2010)! Rene Hell and Dan Lopatin/Games (from Oneohtrix), also Ducktails, Keith Fullerton Whitman and Rhys Chatham (from #20, 2011), people from Austin Psych Fest (Amen Dunes, Pure X, Sleep ∞ Over, Sun Araw, Beach Fossils & Young Prisms), dronesters & noiseniks (Brad Rose, FORMA, Hubble, Matthewdavid, Stellar Om Source, Pete Swanson), new styles (Balam Acab, James Ferraro, Laurel Halo, Julia Holter, Julian Lynch), and several more!
Before we move on from Grails (#1, 2011), I thought it might be worth briefly touching on some of the solo & side projects.
Most recently, that would have to be Lilacs & Champagne, studio cut-and-paste mash-ups done by Alex Hall (guitar) and Emil Amos (drums-plus). And they've got a more recent Amos-collaged video!
"Lilacs" from Lilacs & Champagne (2012)
This time the pseudo-title track, following the album opener "Everywhere, Everyone." Vocal sample here comes from this 1975 Polish synth-prog, featuring Jan Hammer on drums. My opinion isn't set in stone, but I'm leaning towards "novelty record of interest." Pitchfork gave the album a 7.8 review, which even I think might be pushing it.
"Nice Man" from Lilacs & Champagne (2012)
The Pancake Repairman applies his video stylings to this pastorly-themed tune. Some of the material does really grab me, and is surprisingly good. But some parts sound like exactly what it is: two musicians trying out new approaches and technologies outside their wheelhouse, then selecting the best of the results. Obviously there are musicians and producers who dedicate all of their efforts into this kind of music, and they are better at it. Interestingly, there's also a blunt-force American-ness to certain aspects, which is atypical and thus holds a certain appeal for me. The beats are real upfront, and the samples are sometimes Vanilla-Isque in their coherence (if not their provenance).
But I'm a fan of Grails, a fan of the obscure-source re-mash, and a fan of America - so I'm lucky on this one! Lilacs & Champagne, out now on Mexican Summer.
Wm. Zakary Riles [&c] is another Grails guitarist, although he wasn't too involved on Deep Politics for some reason. As far as I know, he's only got the one self-titled solo debut. To clarify, since he goes by about 18 related monikers, that's just Zak Riles, the album...
"Before the Refuge" from Zak Riles (2008)
Seems to me undeniably part of that Grails sound! So you get the more strummy "Chloe" and the more droney "Confluence." The record also has a version of the Grails classic "Silk Rd." Bassist-plus Wm. Slater apparently played the harpsichord on this album too. Perhaps obviously, I've never picked this one up - so I'm just going by internet available examples, but sounds pretty fine. Pick it up here!
Holy Sons, another project of Emil's, pre-dates Grails by a bit - going so far back as to 2001 (such as "Blow to the Head"), 2002 ("Festering Mind Energy") and 2003 ("Spirits High"). I won't pretend to a Holy Sons knowledge that I don't have, so let the films roll!!
"The Feral Kid" from Decline of the West (2006)
The description for this album promo is "EA rides for Partisan Industries." Ha!
So, this is where I come in: Drifter's Sympathy. Yeah, kinda late... I know. Fortunately, most of the trial & error & bumps along the way have been smoothed over - to some degree. And these two from 2009 are really worth checking out! Here's yet another great Amos video for the title track of the latter.
You can buy Survivalist Tales! and Decline of the Westfrom Partisan Records. Drifter's Sympathy and Criminal's Return (along with some Grails & OM) are available at Important Records. And you can get lots of various Holy Sons (including oldests) from the original Pamlico Sound store.
And here's a new Emil Amos mixtape from Vice-Italy (web-translated).
Outside of Grails & Lilacs, Alex Hall has played on a couple of Harvestman (Steve von Till) songs.
"Valley of the Moon" by Steve von Till, from A Grave is a Grim Horse (2008)
No video to embed, but definitely check out Harvestman's "Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail" from In A Dark Tongue (#5, 2009) - both featuring Hall on electric guitar.
It seems like this one will continue the project's exploration of Radiophonic synthesizers, spooky Anglo-folk hauntology, and disorienting nostalgia storms. As always, check out The Belbury Parish for news!
"Summer Round" by Belbury Poly, from Belbury Tales (2012)
There's a full-on track, with vid. And they've got a new-ish FACT Mag interview, with mix.
Order up, available in a variety of formats. Similar prices over at Boomkat, where they say: "The Reverend Jim Jupp welcomes you back to the parish for what is, for our money, the finest Belbury Poly album since early Ghost Box classic The Willows" (#4, 2004).
As I mentioned in the "Story So Far" post, the previous Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 4 (#19, 2010) signalled possible new direction(s), with less rock in the equation. But what would it/they be? Early talk on the record and this Grails guest article on "The 11 Greatest Producers of All Time" gave plenty of hints.
"Almost Grew My Hair" from Deep Politics (2011)
There was a lot of talk about the cut-and-paste production aesthetics of Teo Macero (#4) and Holger Czukay, as well as hip-hop luminaries such as DJ Shadow and Dr. Dre (#5). And I can hear some of that in some places on Deep Politics, but let's start at the ending - where the first "singles" came from.
The ranked producer most relevant to the final trilogy is probably Vangelis (#10). His widescreen electro-prog definitely informs the mega-jams here at the back of the record. The subtle chorus of voices on "Almost Grew My Hair" certainly seems Vangelian to me, and the central guitar motif could easily be an Americanized version of some Greco-folk shanty segment. The stately rise and fall, climaxes and crescendos, derive as much from progressive rock as post-rock (or maybe the prog edge of the post- spectrum). At any rate, real nice tune there - here's how they played it live 9/9/2011.
Before the whole album was out, "I Led Three Lives" was unleashed on the internet - in MP3 & video formats. You can still download these first two tracks from Stereogum. As with a few tunes here, there's a triptych structure. The first movement heralds a looming menace and the oncoming march of some unspeakable dread. Then the battle is joined, with the bombastic clash from the rising Archon of honor and justice (or some such). Choose your own finale: peaceful tranquility once evil has been defeated, or the ebb of life as our hero dies at the hand of the Adversary - all hope dwindling away. Something with zombies and/or demons, or possibly Communists...
The official Emil Amos video above is an edited version of the song - hear here the full audio track.
Home-brew video premiere!! Enigma (1978), via UBUWEB, at ½-speed. This one's the final cut. Nice folkish vibe with some ups & downs, a pleasant balance of jamming and nuance.
Title relevance: unsure. Are you looking at deep snow? Are you inside or underneath deep snow? Is this deep snow far in the past, or on some distant planet?
Moving back into the middle of the album, this was the 2nd official video (fairly NSFW). The Italian horror soundtrack vibe underpins something both smooth jazz and deep soul - though nothing quite in Mangione territory. But the focus on keys, the mechanical rhythm, the string section - this could have easily failed, and I was a little surprised Grails could pull it off. So well.
Title track, and one of the best I'd say. An excellent fusion of the new-style keyboard & strings, and then some more guitarish aspects of Grails. I bet 98 out of 100 random edits of any grindhouse movies would work with this music. And maybe 50% of arthouse films.
Title relevance: unlikely that it's connected to this forum, "dedicated to shining light into the shadowy reaches of historical and contemporary deep political systems." More probably the deep politics of the inner sphere, if you know what I mean...
"All the Colors of the Dark" from Deep Politics (2011)
And finally, we turn our attention to the earliest section of the album, where Grails begin their drift away from the past - and towards the future. "All the Colors of the Dark" covers a lot of ground - the rolling piano, a lovely acoustic figure, some spaghetti twang, a shifting bed of synth choirs, and a sci-fi reverb climax! I was shocked to learn that they played this live.
What in the ...?! This is like minimalist beatbox, over ambient swirl, topped with flute loop and chimes. I don't even... know, anymore. Pretty chill, though.
Title relevance: per the 1963 book of the same name (by C.P. Snow), the place where politics happen - so I imagine that deep politics would happen in deep corridors. There's also "Corridors of Power II" by Lilacs & Champagne.
"Future Primitive" from Deep Politics (2011)
The opening track sets the stage: the intro soars and subsides, leading to a chugging riff, with layers added and withdrawn, then alternating leads circle, one snaking acoustic tendrils, the other fiddling away, like the lotus flower, it opens its petals, not once nor twice, but infinitely - or close enough. And that's just like the first half... Totally sweet opener, its layers indeed multiple and repeated listens truly rewarded.
So there it is. Best album of last year, as far as I'm concerned. And that's just the music... Throw in the etched Side 4, the great videos and album promo, an early library music mix, the Top 11 Producers list, even their tribute/primer to Jackson Browne - and that's a whole lot of awesome!
At some point recently, I realized that my posts often do not provide much in-depth background on what the hell I'm on about. This is perhaps a failing on my part as a blogger, and maybe one that I can rectify.
Grails' latest album Deep Politics was my #1 of last year. They are from Portland, OR. I'd say their music is pretty diverse, but it's mostly guitar-based, instrumental, psychedelic post-rock, with some exotic-Eastern and/or ancient-Druidic influences thrown in.
"Space Prophet Dogon" by Grails, from The Burden of Hope (2003)
Depending on who you are, you might be thinking, "kinda like a 21st-century Sun City Girls?" To which I respond (telepathically), "okay." Now I'm no expert on early Grails, but I do know a couple of facts. First, they originally made a prominent place in the mix for a violin player, who apparently disappeared one day never to return. (This has always sounded to me more like a voluntary disappearance, rather than a criminal or mystical one.) Second, they covered Sun City Girls' tune "Space Prophet Dogon" on their debut album, The Burden of Hope (2003). Also when in doubt (or the dark), go with the opening title track, or maybe the climactic closer.
This post has taken longer than expected to wrap up, so I've had more of a chance to listen to my new Grails LP's. I can see why the first two albums are kind of set aside from the later ones. They are not as fully-formed as more mature Grails, and are definitely closer to a more trad post-rock sound. But for a true Grails fanatic and/or a fan of the post-rock genre, I'd say they're pretty essential. The Burden of Hope should be a natural starting point: debut album, and actually really good on its own terms.
Initial Impression: 6.5/10
"Fevers" from Redlight (2004)
Then there's the 2nd record, Redlight - I've only just recently gotten both these records... Never had before, but they've just been re-mastered (by Carl Saff) and re-released on vinyl LP. $29 for these 1st two, and they found some old Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 1 split-LP's (2006)? Done!
Turns out that I did already have one song from this album: "Reprieve" off the budget CD/DVD label sampler Neurot Recordings I (2004). Although this product description asterisks it as "previously unreleased," so maybe a different version. "The Volunteer" also catches my attention more quickly.
With limited time and other musics all the time, I've found myself going back to Redlight less often. It gives the impression of a thinner, quieter record than the 1st one, with everything kind of on its way to something else. I'm hoping (and half-expecting) to discover this to be my fault, and that this album just requires much closer listening.
Initial Impression: 5/10
"Master Builder" by Grails, from Interpretations of Three Psychedelic Rock Songs from Around the World (2005)
The covers EP Interpretations of... wasn't where I discovered Grails, but it might have been when I went overboard. (It is where I discovered Southern Lord Records' Latitudes series, though...) My favorite Gong tune was already "Master Builder," and they (loosely) cover that! I got The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) entirely based on the Grails cover of The Byrds' "Space Odyssey", so that one worked in the opposite direction. And the final 3rd is Japanese, "Satori" by the Flower Travellin' Band, covered here. Great, great EP!
"Black Tar Prophecy" from Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 1 (2006)
Exit violin player around this time, enter the Black Tar Prophecies series (2006-). Grails have been kind of cagey with their 'title' tracks. "Burden of Hope" on The Burden of Hope, "Red Light" on Redlight, and the trend continues on... These EP's and split releases provide fertile ground for Grails to explore new approaches or possibly to clear outtake archives. Either way, weird stuff - such as... "Bad Bhang Recipe." Vol. 1 is a split-LP with a Red Sparrowes epic.
"Black Tar Frequencies" from Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 2 (2006)
Then there came another EP, solo this time, 4 more songs. Greatest stuff, such as "Back to the Monastery" and "Stray Dog" and so on...
And semi-finally, the collection Black Tar Prophecies, Vol's 1, 2, & 3 (2006) added "Erosion Blues" and "More Erosion."
So, for 2006 Grails was explosively productive and experimenting with a new line-up, and really digging in. They've laid down the post-rock, and moved through the droney space-outs, and are heavying up their explorations with the occasional crunch. Start with the CD collection, because this material does hang together well as a single record. You can go looking for the individual volumes when you need more, or while supplies last!
My evaluation: 8/10
"Silk Rd" from Burning Off Impurities (2007)
Upon regrouping and prophecying, Grails came out with Burning Off Impurities (probably should've been #1, 2007), a whole new full-length album. Probably their most jammy & Krauty collection. All the way from awesome opener "Soft Temple", through the mysterious "Origin-ing", unto the official video for "More Extinction." Seriously, the whole damned thing is magnificent!
Then in 2008, a double dose: Doomsdayer's Holiday and Take Refuge in Clean Living (co-#6, 2008). And this where we begin the Astral record on Grails, since they were ranked in the inaugural list. Wow, that was some pretty decent early blogging - I think I got most of the stuff fairly spot-on.
Anyway, yes. Grails major strength at this point was mood-building and dream-transport, but I'll still give big nods to songwriting and technical musicianship. Their "style" on these 3 records becomes much more elusive: Mystical Jazzcore Krautrock? Indie Exotica Jamband? Heavy Psychedelic Post-rock? ... probably.
I often think of Doomsdayer's Holiday as being significantly longer than its partner, but it's not so much. Just more, and maybe more iconic, tunes. You've got both yer "Predestination..." and yer "Reincarnation Blues." Greatly named "X-Contaminations" and an actual, exact title track! Let's move on before I bump this one over Burning Off Impurities...
"Stoned at the Taj Again" from Take Refuge in Clean Living (2008)
Much the same can be said here. Look at that song title... opening cut! I really love "PTSD," but here's "11th Hour." All quality, all the time. And Grails is back with their 'title' track(s) games here. You've got both "Take Refuge" and a separate "Clean Living." Nothing wrong with this record that an extra song or two wouldn't fix.
Doomsdayer's: 9/10 Take Refuge: 8.5/10
Acid Rain DVD commercial (2009)
The Acid Rain dvd came out right as I was really getting what was happening about Grails. Emil Amos (drums) creates the b-movie roll, often-NSFW film collages that go really well with his band's music. The videos above for "X-Contaminations," "More Extinction," "Predestination Blues" and "Take Refuge" are all on there. The extras - quite a few live performances and some Interpretations-era in-studio footage - might be the best part. Hell, even the menu screens are awesome!
It's film + live: 9/10
"Self-Hypnosis" from Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 4 (2010)
There's quite a bit to like on this return-to-Prophecies EP, and quite a bit that sounds like grasping around in the dark. I still put it at #19 of 2010 overall - and in hindsight, I see how some of the tentative experiments lead on to Deep Politics the following year. But, I mean, this is the opening track. The still-mellow "Up All Night" is more like it - definitely a departure from earlier Grails, but something that I'll listen to.
Not my favorite one: 6/10
But a good place to leave this cliffhanger... I was ready for Grails to veer off into unexplored territory, which they did. I figured they would move away from the guitar-based, rock-oriented jamming, which they did. And I kind of expected them to leave me behind stylistically - which they definitely did not.
i found you did a very interesting research on this topic, which i do consider very important astral plane helps to infusionate (so to speak) your spells and magical objects, and more, more, more things to talk about astral
Good point, Astral!
So here's the opening track off the (most?) recent Expo '70 (#17, 2011) album, Journey through Astral Projection (2011).
"Trajectory Rhythms" by Expo '70, from Journey through Astral Projection (2011)
Huh, I thought it was already 2012... O well, add it to the #17 rank, maybe bump it up a notch. And flyyyyyy into (Astral) space!!
If only you could hear "Growing Mushrooms of Potency" or "Heartfelt Moon Tripper." Maybe you should buy the album, or at least read all about it. Features Umberto (#34, 2010) on synths, bass, etc., as so often happens.
"Moon Raga" by Expo '70, from Hovering Resonance 12" (2012)
Nope! There's some more recent, 2012 Expo '70 material there - and that's side B. Available on Bandcamp...
The Caretaker (#10 of 2011, et cetera) finally went and did a soundtrack. Here's a trailer for the film - which came along with a grip of bonus tracks on the 2011 digital subscription!
"When will all vinyl start coming with immediately digestible MP3 downloads?", I sometimes wonder. Just got the new one from Demdike Stare and Andy Votel, familiarly self-titled Slant Azymuth (shades of #8, 2010?)...
"Intervision 1" by Slant Azymuth, from Slant Azymuth (2012)
Like the pre-record playing dribble of Demdike Elemental tracks, YouTube provides some dark ambient solace.
"Intervision 2" by Slant Azymuth, from Slant Azymuth (2012)
I also picked up the split 12" between Demdike Stare and Hype Williams doing remixes of Shangaan Electro stuff - you can stream some at Pitchfork.
This is, uhhh, contemporary hi-NRG South African dance music... listen to, and listen about.
Updated links are being maintained at the Comp Index and in the COMPS section to the right - links below lead back only to the original posts/tracklists.
Once again, I'm rushing to provide this for your weekend, and before mine. And as always, these are freely & legitimately available MP3's from all over the World Wide Web.
Because of the Megaupload shutdown, I have moved all the blog compilations over to RapidShare - where they should be currently available.
Gongs to the Tempel - Astral Headspace, Vol. 7 (2012)
Tracklists and posts can be accessed via the links for each comp over on the right-hand menu.
But here we are, the newest of the new... Split amongst the upcoming and previous Austin Psych Fests, and also a bunch of random other stuff - check it out!!
Hubble Telescope Discovers Sphinx on Pluto's Moon (Vol. 8) (2012)
Since I'm running out of time now, the tracklist details & comments will be even more spare than usual (for now). Subject to later updates...
07 "Black Pullet Blues" - The Cult of Dom Keller (follow on Facebook)
Gracias especial to The Cult of Dom Keller for providing this MP3 for inclusion!! As I've mentioned before, I got to meet these dudes (and see play) at the last Austin Psych Fest. This one's from their newest EP3 (#15, 2011), which you can - and should - buy from either The Committee to Keep Music Evil or their own Bandcamp. Along with other prime releases!
I almost missed Something Awful's 2-part year-end wrap-up, which would have been a shame. Then I would have delayed learning about Food Pyramid, a Minnesota crew of Krautrock jammers.
Hey, wow, that one's still available from Altered Zones. Or just wait for the Vol. 8 blog comp, right?!
You can check out recent release New Omni-Directional Healing Techniques (2011), over at Bandcamp. There's a handy compilation CD also available at Bandcamp, which does include the awesomely-titled song...
"Eulogy for Lee Marvin/Another Round on the Outer Rings" from Food Pyramid III (2011)
Those videos were both from cassette #III, here's one from II (2010).
"Underwater Temple Explorations #4" from Food Pyramid II (2010)
And based on Gödel's Dilemma of Recursive Fractality, a series of numbers beginning with 3, and also including 2 as well, must by necessity resolve to the Prime Numeral #1.
"Das Tier? Die Autobahn? Die Brunnen?" from Food Pyramid I (2010)
Again, I think the title is illustrative - or possibly illustrious. Time to start collecting everything I can get ahold of!!
I don't see the 3 physical cassettes for sale, but they are available as MP3 from Amazon. And Moon Glyph Records is selling a brand-new Food Pyramid split-7" with Deep Earth's "Kontraband." I hope you will enjoy some music.
One of the highlights of the Astral Headspace is back. The Time & Space Machine! (#6, 2009)! 1/2 of Beyond the Wizards Sleeve!! (#1, 2008)!!
New 12" single is "Pill Party in India," with 2 remixes... It's a trip, and you can bug out to it. Now.
"Pill Party in India" by The Time & Space Machine (2012)
Original mix-wise in the TTASM style.
All versions are on the YouTube, the SoundCloud, and all over the InterNets. Physical release apparently on the 6ixth. Psychemagik remix has some hard stereo-panning and wavygravy-FX 4-on-the-floor. Plus la cowbell, plus c'est la même chose.
Mojo Filter remix might be a reference to The Beatles. Indirectly, I'm sure - but really it's this guy.
For those of you put off by Demdike Stare's elaborate 4x12" EP-series/objet d'art, the 2xCD recollection is up for pre-sale. For the (non-importing) US, not yet up at Forced Exposure at this point...
"Violetta" [official] from Elemental #2: Violetta (2011)
I've finally unpacked and listened to Demdike Stare's (#8, 2010) first two installments of new LP-series Elemental. The third one's received, and the fourth ordered... But internet info is starting to come out, so I'm rounding it up!
"Kommunion" from Elemental #1: Crysanthe (2011)
This one's especially good cranked up high, rattling the windows, vaporizing the support beams with sympathetic vibrations, collapsing in waves of the primodrial Drone. "Kommunion" appears towards the end of a new podcast/mix (see below).
"Mnemosyne" from Elemental #2: Violetta (2011)
As always, there are new things for adjusting to and consideration, but a lot seems spare and minimalismic. Several of the early tracks work mostly around the rhythm(s), with lesser accompaniment.
"In The Wake Of Chronos" from Elemental #2: Violetta (2011)
Minimalindustrialisheadphoneskronkdrone... for your brain's ear.
"Unction" from Elemental #1: Crysanthe (2011)
Okay, I'm thinking: SONAR (artificial/mechanical, not dolphins and bats), and maybe some insider jokes about dubstep ("wub-wub", "where's the drop?"), the Hammond Organ of Doom - all mixed up.
"Mephisto's Lament" from Elemental #1: Crysanthe (2011)
The kick-off track for the whole deal. I always forget to check if bands I dig have the Facebook - Demdike Stare does.
That's how I learned about their recent free Modern Love mix/Elemental podcast, "Irrational Advice":
There's also an old mix, "MovingMetals," from awhile back. Still downloadable!
"Erosion of Mediocrity" from Elemental #3: Rose (2011)
Check it out - one day old! Lovely video...
Finally, Pitchfork somewhat recently gave Elemental Parts 1 & 2 a 7.9 review, which seems to be their default number for "pretty good actually." And I just found this this interview with the Demdikes!
