J / Q :: Official Web Log

More kind words from the Blogosphere...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:55:00 -0500

More kind words from the Blogosphere...:

This guy’s got us down for “Pop Album of the Year.” We like the sound of that! Can we get some momentum behind this?? Look out Katy Perry…our chests are not as mesmerizing, but at least we didn’t get latered by Capt. Jack Sparrow’s shitty English doppelganger…

http://sparksandnerves.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/j-q/

Two hundred...and forty dollars...worth of Pudding.

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:28:47 -0500

Two hundred...and forty dollars...worth of Pudding.:

(2) points to you for getting “The State” reference. Barry and Levon….awwwww yeah. Check out our friends over at www.allstonpudding.com — a nice little website dedicated to keeping you abreast of the myriad musical happenings in our quaint little New England town. We happen to be in their local rotation — click the link and look right. Sit and spin with us…pudding.

J / Q "Binary Life" Boston Phoenix MP3 of the Week

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:35:09 -0500

http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/onthedownload/archive/2012/02/16/mp3-of-the-week-j-q-quot-binary-life-quot-tonight-radio-in-somerville.aspx

That’s pretty cool, right?

Big ups to the writer, Perry Eaton — who for the record we’ve never met, and who had no ulterior motive that we can think of for saying such nice things about us. Based on his detailed and descriptive review of the song, he clearly took the time to actually listen and get into the tune. We really appreciate that.

J / Q — Sayonara Our first music video! I want my, I...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:01:00 -0500

J / Q — Sayonara Our first music video! I want my, I want my, I want my Mtv.

Finally. Ease back, fire up the hi-fi, pour yourself a...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:06:33 -0500

Finally. Ease back, fire up the hi-fi, pour yourself a beverage (or whatever you do to get in the right frame of mind) and dig into this…..

J/Q’s most recent inspiration

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:15:02 -0500

J/Q’s most recent inspiration

Art has landed.

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:20:44 -0500

I’m outside of my head to announce that the artwork for the long awaited (at last by us) J / Q full length is complete. This was the final grueling obstacle. It had to be that way. This album was a labor of love, and true love, as we all know, means an absolute stubborn unwillingness to compromise. No matter how tiny the detail, it had to be just right. For better or worse, we are not on anybody’s timeline but our own. So we were free to pick and poke an prod and adjust and readjust and meditate and revert and pick a little more until we got it just right.

If we’ve learned anything, its that deadlines and limitations can be your friend.

you gotsta accessoriiiiize!!!

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:42:26 -0400

you gotsta accessoriiiiize!!!

consider that I’m a one and you’re a zero…

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:43:28 -0400

consider that I’m a one and you’re a zero…

J / Q live in somebody's basement this Friday 9/30/11

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:39:00 -0400

We’re finally hitting the concert circuit. Alex At Large is back in action and we’re ready to rule. First stop on the “Complete World Domination Tour 2011” is at some place called Sealbeard’s somewhere in Allston. I’d tell you more but I think we’re supposed to keep the locale on the down low. Keep it on the DL. We spend more time on the DL than J.D. Drew. Our whole career has been on the down low.

E-mail us for more info about the show via jslashq@gmail.com Remember, if you’re an undercover cop, you have to tell us if we ask. It works for hookers, its got to work for us, right?

Who has 6 thumbs and loves the Beach Boys? These guys.

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:39:59 -0400

Who has 6 thumbs and loves the Beach Boys? These guys.

Alex At Large: Italy Edition

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 23:54:00 -0400

Alex At Large: Italy Edition

Feel so lonely without Q.

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:32:00 -0400

If a band puts out an album in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, do the trees post about it on the Noise Board?

Too local?

Ok…What about Lambgoat?? Relapse??? The PRP???? Punknews????? That super scenester board that I can’t remember the name of right now?????*

I wouldn’t know. I don’t read any o’ dem shits.

Q just left for tour with Doomriders. Heading to New Zealand and Australia. Pretty awesome….for him. Meanwhile I’m sitting stateside with a fistfull of pud. Sucks.

Alex is still on the Alex At Large World Honeymoon Tour. Haven’t heard from him in a couple of weeks…hope he didn’t get eaten by cannibals in the darkest jungles of Mandingo or something…

Still haven’t released the album for mass consumption yet. Have you ever met a band less interested in making their material available to the public?? It will come out. At this point we are still trying to come up with an art concept. If you are an artist and would like to come up with a visual representation for this album, please get in touch jslashq@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to hook you up with the tunes for inspiration. Or you can just pretend you would do it and score an advanced copy of this long awaited masterpiece.

You’ll be happy to know that we are progressing quite nicely on a follow up ep to the album you have yet to hear. I’ll be taking a break from my pud to work on some demo’s Q and I roughed out last week while he is down under. Pretty excited about that. I feel like we are fabulously productive for a band that has only released two songs…which have been out for almost a year now. Kind of funny. Not in a Chevy Chase falling down the stairs kind of way…more like an “I like turtles” kind of funny. Not really funny. Sort of sad. Not really sad. Sort of ironic. Don’t you think?

Who would have thought it figures.

*Pitchfork. That’s it. I can’t remember when I started forgetting.

J / Q is proud to be sponsored by BROGAIN. Get your sh!t back. ...

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:09:07 -0400

J / Q is proud to be sponsored by BROGAIN. Get your sh!t back. Sup.

Dear Alex, I’m sorry man. I don’t know what...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:18:57 -0400

Dear Alex,

I’m sorry man. I don’t know what happened. One minute we’re playing the boat song, the next, this. This happened to me once before with my own pedal when Clouds was playing live on Pipeline! at MIT. First song. And the genius’ that go to MIT took that pedal, duct taped 3 metal files to the bottom of the foot plate and we were back in business in minutes. Same pedal actually. Anyway I’m really sorry and I will buy you any pedal you want to replace it. Just let me know. Hope you’re having a great trip!

Love

An Haiku by J / Q

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:58:00 -0400

A holding pattern.

“I thought the album was done?”

Mostly. Still needs art.

Dear, Nathan Ota: I want to live in your world.

Mon, 23 May 2011 14:04:00 -0400

Dear, Nathan Ota: I want to live in your world.:

A couple of years and a different lifetime ago, I was marooned in one of my least favorite cities, Los Angeles, while on tour with Clouds. One stifling plastic coated day while aimlessly following other people around unknown streets, I happened to stumble into a place called, La Luz De Jesus. http://www.laluzdejesus.com/ I was beckoned by a big sign outside that just said, “Wacko.” I don’t remember a goddamned thing about anything else in the place, but I was immediately transfixed by this painting:

…and this one:

and this one:

And so on and so forth. Now the thing about it is this: I’m not really a visual guy, and by and large could give two shits about modern art. Its not that I can’t appreciate beauty, but I gravitate more toward functionalism and what I call “the art of pragmatism.” I’m a big fiction reader, but I run into a lot of people who say they can only read non-fiction and can’t stand anything “made up.” This is sort of how I feel about visual art.

Nathan’s work destroyed these instincts. I was enraptured. I just kept staring and staring and making up stories in my head about the Squirrel Boy and the BabyBot and the Friendly Trees and this odd broken forest that they all lived in. The colors melted my retinas. The fine lines and details imprinted themselves onto my brain cells. I couldn’t get enough.

I couldn’t find a signature anywhere. No plackards. No information. Nothing. Maybe it was there and in my art induced haze I just missed them. I was obsessed with finding out who the artist was.

The tour ended and home I went, back to my regular boring life. I hopped on the google machine and embarked on some intense internet searching using keywords like, “masked squirrel boy in the friendly tree forest,” (which did yield some interesting results). I finally found Nathan Ota by searching for art galleries in the neighborhood of LA that I was trapped in and after clicking on a half dozen or so, finally narrowed it down to La Luz. It would have been much easier had I known the place was called “La Luz De Jesus.” I thought it was called, “Wacko.” http://www.laluzdejesus.com/ led me www.nathanota.com, where I’ve since spent hours and hours just pouring over his work, inventing the adventures of Rat Boy and BabyBot in the Broken Friendly Forest in my head.

Short story long, never in my life have I been so fascinated by a painter’s work — contemporary or otherwise. So, I felt the need to put out an appreciation post. And now I have. Someday when the J / Q records go triple diamond platinum I will own the largest collection of Nathan Ota originals in the world.

All paintings c Nathan Ota and used here without permission. I will gladly remove them if the artist so desires. Please go to www.nathanota.com so he won’t be upset with me for rebroadcasting his work.

WHAT DO YOU DO???? Q put the drum in conundrum.

Mon, 16 May 2011 20:31:00 -0400

So…let’s say it’s 2011 and against all reason and good judgement, you spent a bunch of time putting together what you truly believe is a really good full length 11 song album—built to be listened to AS an album, not a bunch of singles. Down the road you plan on putting out a limited run of 100 vinyl records—something really special with lots of original art and handmade silk screened jackets and what not. But let’s say that is months and months away and in the meantime you still want people to hear it and enjoy it, but are loath to feed it to the digital void of streaming and download and bandcamp and myspace for fear of literally getting lost in the shuffle…WHAT DO YOU DO????

If you have any ideas pertaining to this or any other subjects please contact: jslashq@gmail.com

The Exciting World Of Music Recording! Part III: ...

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:40:00 -0400

The Exciting World Of Music Recording!

Part III: Mastering

featuring Mr. Ian Kennedy

(3:32 a.m.)

The Exciting World Of Music Recording! Part II: Mixing

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:21:00 -0400

The Exciting World Of Music Recording!

Part II: Mixing