I can barely hear anything.

Ok, that's a bit dramatic but somewhat true. I've been in the studio all weekend and it's been really incredible. I almost finished an entire record with Mike Farley. It's about 11 of Farley's tunes recorded acoustically. I love making records. It's a really great learning experience and the process helps me to listen to thing a bit differently. We recorded guitars and lead vocals on Saturday and did extra guitars and backing vocals today. Everything was chugging along swimmingly until the power went out this afternoon when we had just started doing backing vocals on one of the tunes. The computer shut off and when I rebooted it and reopened the track and all of the sound waves in the editing window disappeared. I tried to re-import the .aif files and then Pro Tools wouldn't allow me to save anything. So in the middle of the afternoon I un-installed and then re-installed Pro Tools on my computer. That worked!! This probably sounds boring as shit to many of you and for that I am sorry but it's hard to explain the happiness that washed over me when I realized that my computer didn't die. Indescribable joy.
So yeah, we tracked a bit more and we called it a day. I sent the tracks off and now we'll listen to it for a bit and crank out final edits next weekend. Good times.
So, I was mulling around a bit after I bounced the tracks down and decided to record a new song that I wrote a few weeks ago called "501". I'm really pretty happy with it. The drums sound great and the mix seems really rich and full. I'm sure tomorrow when my ears have rested, I'll probably have to remix the whole thing (I'm probably going to redo the vocals anyway so it's no big deal). Regardless, it's pretty cool and I'm starting to compile a list of songs for my next record.
The week to come will be busy!! If I'm going to make it through, I've really got to crash out.

It makes sense to start here...

so here's where I'll start. I've been pondering this for a very long time and pondering will only take you so far. It's time to put these thoughts down to not only sort them out but to also helpfully tell a story. This blog has been used for news and other bits but only as informal posts. My goal with this blog is to really tell the story of the label from both an artist and an owner standpoint and keep everyone (including myself) up to date with all that is happening with our musical experiment on all fronts. If we license a track or sign a new band or get a great little bit of press somewhere, I want to share this experience from all points with you - to enjoy not only the music but to also share in the experience and journey as we build this little label and make these songs our best friends. It might be completely foolish but what better time than now to tell the story of an upstart indie record label in a time when the industry is completely falling to shit? I mean it's completely falling apart and no one can figure out how to keep the sky strung up. It's a brilliant and exciting time to actually care about music and artists. I know this all sounds a bit presumptuous but let's see where it goes. If you have any ideas or comments, please feel free to post them and I'll do my best to respond. Ok, now that we're all here, stay tuned and thanks for sharing.

Josh Preston

06.22.07

Ok. So we re a little slow on the upswing, but our friends at music blog Berkeley Place gave us some props, specifically gave Nick Shelton props last week and we wanted to share. This is some funny poop. Nick is their official soundtrack to this pic.
Chipmunk recreation

And while we were reading back through the blog, we found this little big shout out to Brad! Who's that at number 5?

06.18.07

Summer is in full swing and the MATM crew is hard at work. We're out on the road quite a bit in the coming months, and hope we will get to see you! Keep checking back cause there is even more to see!

06.28.07

It's the moment we've all been waiting for. Well it's really the moment we all forgot about but now that it's here, all is right with the world. I'm talking about today's release of Brad Sweizter's podcast for the Nashville Feed. Let me tell you something folks... this is a special performance. There are a few previews from Brad's next record (release date and title to be announced soon) and it truly showcases Brad's talent in a way that has never before been captured on whatever the hell medium captured said performance. As a matter of fact, we also have video from this evening that we'll be synching up with this audio in a short time.
On top of this uncontrollably great news, Josh's podcast has been fixed and that too is now available. It's like x-mas in July which by all accounts is the worst marketing ploy in history. It's like having two separate Valentine's Days. Utterly useless unless your a girl. Yes, I just crossed that line. Goodbye line. If you want to just subscribe via iTunes, click here you sexy thang.

MATM News - 06.01.07

You will never guess what we did this week. Ok, maybe you will. In fact, if you don't get it, we might have to question your overall intellectual capacity. Now, that is just not nice.

This week we redesigned the Me and the Machine site! All the same goodness you have come to love, with a little easier navigation. You can now listen to any song from our entire catalog using the new radio player on the right. Click around and enjoy!

06.01.07

You will never guess what we did this week. Ok, maybe you will. In fact, if you don't get it, we might have to question your overall intellectual capacity. Now, that is just not nice.
This week we redesigned the Me and the Machine site! All the same goodness you have come to love, with a little easier navigation. You can now listen to any song from our entire catalog using the new radio player on the right. Click around and enjoy!