About ‘Isolated Twins’

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Mastering is finally complete! Electronic distribution will happen as soon as reverb nation releases it to iTunes and the rest of the online retailers. Look for the release of ‘Isolated Twins’ very soon.

In the meantime, here are the final notes for the album…

The Jones Thing – Isolated Twins – JON05

1. Evangelina
2. Little Man
3. Faster Faster
4. Floyd and Katrina
5. Born in a Cemetery
6. Over-Dosed
7. Maryland
8. Nothing Left to Give You
9. Martian Luxury Car Commercial
10. Swingy Memories

Trey Carmichael – Drums
Jeff Jones – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Programming
Eric Neal – Bass
Mark Pittman – Piano and Organ
Joe Schwartzott – Lead Guitars

With special guests

Brian MacDonald – Trumpet on ‘Faster Faster’ and Flugelhorn on ‘Swingy Memories’
Russell Bartholomee – Duet Vocal and Theramin on ‘Over-Dosed
Chris Cannon – Vibraphone on ‘Swingy Memories’
Paul Williams – Additional Percussion throughout

Mastered by Ian Cooper at Metropolis – London
Mixed by Paul Williams at Tomcast Studios
Drums Recorded by Chris Carmichael at Junius Recording Co.
Vocals and Instruments recorded at Windomerian Studios
Trumpets recorded on location via Cottongrass Remote Recording
Song Order conceived by Mark Pittman
Produced by JMJ

Special thanks to Harvey Barham for providing insanely expensive microphones and instruments.

Some very awesome performances by my friends. Trey’s drumming alone is worth the price of admission.

Born in a Cemetery

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Here’s another preview – all electronic – called ‘Born in a Cemetery’. Paul Williams did an excellent production job, adding nice aural drippings all over it.

[audio:Born in a cemetery.mp3]

Jeff – programming, percussion, gtrs, keys, vox

Comatose, I’m over-dosed again…

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Here’s a sneak preview of one of the new tunes, ‘Over-dosed’. Still a rough mix, but includes tasty vocals and theramin from Russell of Oliver’s Army! So much going on, so difficult to dance to, but it came out pretty much like my ‘in my head’ version.

[audio:JonesThing-Overdosed.mp3]

Drums – Trey Carmichael
Bass – Eric Neal
Vocals, Theramin – Russell Bartholomee
Organs – Mark Pittman
Geetars, Organs & Vocals – Jeff

Tracking Complete!

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All tracks are done! Russell came over today and nailed the duet vox in the first two takes. His theramin part is going to be insane once we add some fx to it. We then concentrated on a Japanese Rock song – made it even goofier than the original demo. Will hopefully get the vocals/translations done this weekend.

Next up – mixing!

99.1% done

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Ok – Almost there – Just need the great Russell from OA to do a vocal part and Theramin part on Monday. We’re also gonna record some fake Japanese Pop Rock songs for a movie!

Then it’s off to mixin’! Then mastering. Then artwork (still looking for a graphic artist to help). Then done.

I am seriously considering making this a digital-only release, since very few actually buy cds these days (RIP Cd World). This would save me a ton of $$$ too.  WordPress has a great e-commerce plugin for digital downloads. CD Baby accepts digital releases and still distributes them to iTunes. Still need to think about it.

Recording Vox (updated)

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Ok, back in business. Set up Harvey’s nice Manley mic and began recording some lead and backing vocals for several existing songs. I had finished some new lyrics for a few tunes and did those as well.

Rather than describe in paragraph form, I’ll use the following list to keep you informed of my progress…

(in no particular order)
1. Ambient Alarm Clock (instrumental) – Done

2. Soul Down the River – Redid the lead and backing vocals – I’ve sang the song so many times, it was fairly easy – only a few takes each. – Done

3. Little Man – yeah, I’m borrowing Cannon’s title from an old Gentleman Losers Cd, what the hell. Sing-songy lyrics with a silly ending. The song clocks in at a measly 2:13. Added background vocals later in the day. Satisfied, plenty of alternate takes for mixing – all other instrumentation was done. Tweaked a vibe part now that there is a lead vocal line. Done

4. Swingy Memories – the last ‘dip into the old catalog’. Actually using Cannon’s vibe part from years ago – thought he should be included. Added a more interesting bass part which changed the feel of the tune quite a bit. Also has a great trumpet solo from my Bro-in-law. Should be good to go – Done

5. Born in a Cemetery – Had done the vocals earlier this year, but re-did them to match the quality level – haha! Changed a few lyrics here and there. Added 2 more guitar parts, remixed. Added Harmony vocals early this morning. Satisfied. Done

6. Nothing Left to Give You – Aug 25th – A pretty mean song, and an audio blood bath. I sang and sang and sang, but still not satisfied. 10+ takes didn’t get it. I’m going to rephrase some of the lines or split the parts. Will try again later tonight. Other than that, the rest of the stuff is done

Update 8/31: Finally got my voice together and redid everything – sounds pretty good now. Very fun harmony parts Done!

7. Faster Faster (working title) – Aug 25th -All music is done, I re-tracked a couple of guitar parts last week. Brian does an insane, sick backing part as mentioned about a year ago. Still need to write several verses, will try to get this done later in the week.

8. Over-Dosed – Need a theramin part from Russell. Bg vox from him as well. Still have to write all the lyrics. I have to really work hard on this one.

Update 8/31: Wrote some silly heavy-handed lyrics but got it all tracked. Sent several versions to Russell (hard panned, no vox, full vox parts, etc)

9. Evangelina – Need to have Joe do a lead part – mine just sounds too unprofessional. Have about 2/3 of the lyrics done. Will record vocals in the next coupla weeks.

Update 8/31: Wrote some more heavy-handed lyrics but got it all tracked. May kill the 3rd harmony part. What the hell. Just need a Joe strummy.

10. Moving to Maryland (working title) – All music done, just need to redo an acoustic guitar part. This one still needs lots of work on lyrics and phrasing. Will probably be the last one I finish.