As I continue helping to produce podcasts for We Own This Town, I've found that the biggest blocker for releasing shows is the actual editing of the podcast. This isn't exactly a surprising revelation but it turns out that cleaning up an audio file is a considerable amount of work.

I currently use Audition to perform this task but lately I've been really fascinated with a new type of tool that allows you to simply edit a transcript of your show while simultaneously editing the audio itself.

I started with Descript, a desktop app that allows you to edit both audio and video via transcript and even overlay your own additional audio if you want (i.e. music queues). It's quite nice and works relatively well without too many abrupt edits but does have a pricing plan. You get 3 hours of transcripts free but after that, you'll need to pay $12 per month. Not a bad deal by any means and my experience with the app has been pleasant. They've even got an experimental feature that lets you insert new audio with voice cloning!

More recently, I've been playing around with Edit Eddy, a web based version of the same thing developed by Headliner. The app is currently in beta, so it's entirely free to use. I doubt that will last forever but I'll take what I can get right now! It's certainly a bit less feature rich than Descript (for now) but the basics are all there and seem to be more intuitively executed in terms of UI/UX.

Both seem to be very solid options if you're looking to try your hand at editing some audio with a rather clever new technique; deleting text.

A perfect endurance challenge. via Uncle Skelly.

For the past year I've been fairly obsessed with Print-On-Demand apparel. It's exactly what it sounds like; you come up with a design for a garment, use a service like Printify to place it and then whenever someone orders it, they print it on demand.

The technology has come a long way since it was first introduced and the quality of prints is finally at a very acceptable level. I still think screenprinted tee's are superior but it's really hard to rationalize the expense of ordering a batch of tees when you have no clue if anyone is going to buy them.

Long story short, I put together some yewknee shirts and posted them to the yk Records shop (since they share a logo). No clue what sort of demand there is for this kind of thing but it was fun to put together; particularly the Pronunciation Guide Tee which is possibly the most nonsensical of the bunch unless you get it.

If you want one, get one! If not, no hard expense for me! Win win.

I believe this is what you might call synergy. I run a podcast called We Own This Town: Music that highlights local Nashville music. I also run a small indie label called yk Records that, primarily, releases music from Nashville based artists. The latest episode of WOTT Music is a lengthy interview with one of my yk Records artists discussing a very personally influential record released in 2006; and re-issued by yk in 2022. Forget Cassettes was formed in the early 2000's and I've been an ardent follower since the very first show (literally!). The sophomore album Salt was never issued on vinyl until this year when yk released it and I couldn't be more happy to help them celebrate the sixteen year anniversary.

It was a treat to sit down with Beth Cameron, Jay Leo Phillips and Aaron Ford to discuss how the album came together. They were kind enough to spend a length amount of time going over each track, discussing what they remember about the writing, recording and overall evolutionary process of the whole thing.

I've always wanted the label and the podcast to serve as a bit of historical documentation for the local music scene that I enjoy so much. With this particular episode, I think I checked both boxes quite well.

You can listen to the episode in the embed above, over on the WOTT site, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you prefer. I hope you'll give both the album and the podcast a listen.

If I told you that there was an unbelievably poignant and riveting video of Nosferatu singing "Unchained Melody", would you be interested? Well, there definitely is and it's quite a sight to behold, to say the least.

The performance came about because the lead playing Nosferatu (Eric Lehning) was battling with a bout of colitis; a chronic colon disease that can result in fasting and, thus, weight loss. Despite the hardship, he was inspired to take on the performance as his gaunt physique was perfect for this absurd idea that had been floating around for years. That is to say, it's a wildly entertaining piece but it's also not without a bit of tragedy. Nosferatu himself was a bit of a tragic figure, so the backstory certainly augments the whole thing. Fortunately, I'm told Eric is recovering quite well and there's no need for grave concern.

The entire project is actually a collaboration between a group of friends that I've admired for a long time - the Lehning's and the Duensing's. Back in 2008, an indie film called Make-out with Violence was released; the result of years of collaboration between "The Deagol Brothers" and a group of musicians led by Jordan Lehning. This Nosferatu performance is, in my mind, a reunion of sorts.

As noted, Nosferatu himself is played by Eric Lehning - one of the writers of Make-out with Violence and singer for the band that would emerge from the movie's incredible soundtrack. The music is by Jordan Lehning - the composer of the films soundtrack and a marvelous songwriter in his own solo work. It was directed by Andy and Josh Duensing - Andy being one of the Deagol Brothers and Josh being an incredibly talented director on his own. The makeup is by Chris Doyle - another Deagol Brother - and is incredibly perfectly executed. The title design is by Jeremy Fetzer - a local musician and talented designer (no association with MOWV but still worthy of note).

That may all sound meaningless to you if you haven't been steeped in Nashville creative culture for 20 years but it's significant to me. It's great to see these folks all work together again and the results be so wonderful.

Despite not being a musician of any sort, the YouTube algorithm decided I needed to see this demo of the Birotron B-90, a synthesizer that used 8-track cartridges to loop samples infinitely. Sort of like an evolved Mellotron. Labeled as "Music's Rarest Instrument" - I was dubious! Was this a Polybius situation? A great backstory to a device that is more legend than reality?

Fortunately, that is not the case. The Birotron is real. The Wikipedia runs down the entire history of the device and why it became so rare. The TLDR of the device is that inventor Dave Biro got together with Rick Wakeman (of Yes) to produce this device and they hit hardship upon hardship to get the manufacturing right. So much so that only 13 devices were ever really produced and "only two are thought to exist today."

The YouTube demo captures the results of the effort of a fan trying to restore and recapture the sounds from one of the last existing devices. The sounds themselves will never be restored because they were captured on tapes that degrade over time... but that certainly adds to the haunting nature of the whole thing.

The Internet has trained me to stay dubious. Maybe this is still an elaborate hoax and I'm falling for it? It's entirely possible but I'm embracing optimism and remain fascinated by the device itself and its sorted history.

In years past I used to make a yearly Halloween mix comprised of music I'd been listening to over the year. More recently, the majority of music I intake is all Nashville based as a means of fueling my podcast. So, to that end, my Halloween mix has transformed into a yearly podcast episode. The 2022 edition - Creature Feature - is out now! The entire mix was a blast to put together; starting off with more light and entertaining tracks and slowly devolving into darker and harder tracks. The first 90 seconds are absurd and, honestly, probably my favorite thing I make all year.

If you want more of this there's always the 2021 edition, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Spent my weekend at Spooky Ghoul Festival dressed up like a Tennessee license plate. It's possibly the most niche costume I've ever worn but it seemed to go over well.

Originally designed by Norris Hall, the Cool Cat design has been around the Nashville area for a long time. So long, in fact, the local alt weekly is a bit sick of it. As far as I can tell, the plate is no longer available to order - so maybe they got their wish!

We pay tribute to the Cool Cat on Nashville Galaxy and I felt it was time to take my fandom to the next level. Halloween 2022; done!

It's October so let this be your annual reminder that Curse Walk, the one-and-only album from Shaboi, is the greatest treat you can give yourself during the Halloween season. Originally released in 2009 as the fourth release for yk Records, it's hard to imagine an album aging better than Curse Walk has. It's runtime is just under 30 minutes and it manages to cover a ridiculous variety of styles in that time. There's some contemplative ballads, some Gershon Kingsley-esque keyboard fun, some absurdist hip-hop, some country-western and even a bit of soaring R&B ballad. You'd think that would result in a lack of cohesion but, somehow, magically, it does not.

It's a real treat and I highly suggest you get it into your life: Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music or wherever you prefer your tunes.

If you're a non-RSS reader of ole yewknee.com, you'll notice that I've applied a new coat of paint to things around here. "Redesigning your blog" isn't something you hear about too often in 2022 but for some of us it's still an entertaining endeavor.

For the past year or so, I've slowly been carving away at a redesign. A few minutes on a Sunday here or there to try out some layouts, tweak a few things here or there and then let it marinate for awhile. This twelfth version of yewknee.com wasn't so much designed as it was carved out. Decisions like subpages have a different nav weren't so much arrived at because they serve some purpose, I just liked it.

This site has been around in some form or another for 21 years. Over the last few years, I've found myself with a lot less free time to post long form posts here. What started as a sidebar of waxy.org-esque "links of interest" are now the primary content. I'm not sad about it. I'm happy the site continues to evolve in some way or another.

From the very beginning, this site was meant to be a stop along the way. A bookmark you checked out every so often for some distractions or something fulfilling outside of your regular circle. It's not the only stop along the way but I hope it's a stop along the way. A pleasant one at that. Hope you enjoy!

Recently became aware of the work of South Korean based illustrator Jisu Choi and I'm smitten! There's so much detail to immerse yourself in on every single piece. I'm bewildered how anyone makes work like this but I'm incredibly appreciative to be able to spend time with it.

The official site is likely the best spot for larger res images but giving a gander to Twitter and Instagram is certainly worth your time as well.