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Short Stories Redux

by the grassy knoll

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Burn 02:40
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The Drought 03:28
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about

The Grassy Knoll’s music sounds as vivid as ever, with that fact underscored by filmmakers relying on key recordings for sonic scene-setting. FX’s sci-fi hit series Legion incorporated the track “The Art of Fear” (from Electric Verdeland Vol. 1), while the creators of Netflix’s recent Bobby Kennedy for President used “Corrosion of the Masses” (from Positive) as the theme music for the docu-series. So, with new buzz for The Grassy Knoll among kindred spirits, it’s an ideal time for Green to have revisited Short Stories, his most unsung release. When originally creating Short Stories in the early 2000s, Green was exploring new territory by incorporating abstracted spoken word into looser tracks that had a garage-rock feel. He collaborated with poet Becca Ayers, cutting and pasting her recitations into his live-wire soundscapes. Bay Area jazz trumpeter Chris Grady returned from previous Grassy Knoll projects (with his Milesian horn like ghostly counterpoint in downtempo album highlight “In the Winter of ’72”). But the biggest sound source was Green himself, not only as bassist and sample-savvy producer but also as a gritty guitarist. In reconsidering Short Stories – an indie release that flew under the radar at the time – Green sought to refocus the album, trimming the running order down to his seven favorite tracks; he also tapped noted restoration and remastering engineer Jessica Thompson (who also mastered Electric Verdeland Vol. 1 and EP01). She clarified the sound, getting it closer to what Green had in his head at the time. Such standout tracks as “Burn” and “The Confounded Bridge” have come to fresh life, resonating like the soundtrack to a noir movie in your mind; the music grooves and grinds hard, the words like a femme-fatale whispering in your ear.
About the album, Green explains: “Short Stories was a departure for me. It was the first time I had worked with any vocals, and it was a more lo-fi production compared to my first three albums. It was also more of a ‘played’ record, although there are plenty of samples on there. I was going for a loose feel, with live guitars as the basis for the tracks, most of those captured in one take. I loved that garage-y sound, particularly with something like the big rock riff that powers ‘Carrie, Carrie, Carrie,’ but I’ve always had something of an ambivalent feeling about the album. Part of that is because it was a dark time in New York City, where I was living at the time, and for me. I made it just after 9/11, as the track ‘They Found Another Arm Today’ references. I was in a hermetic, alienated state of mind, just DJing a bit around town, working on these tracks and probably spending way too much time by myself. I dug what Becca Ayers did with words, so I invited her to record some of her poetry onto a DAT machine I lent her. Then I cut up her readings and worked phrases into the tracks. She never heard the music beforehand. I abstracted the recitations quite a bit, using her words to my dark-minded ends.”

Another source of Green’s ambivalence about the original version of Short Stories was that he was never fully satisfied with the sound of the record, considering it a bit unfinished. Unfortunately, his hard drive with all the original multi-tracks for Short Stories was stolen. “But I was talking with Jessica Thompson about new technological tools she had been working with, and that gave me the idea of having her help me subtly improve the sonics of the album,” he says. “Using just the CD as the master, she was able to dig into the music, clean some mud out of the sound, and even sink the vocals further down, so that we could highlight the instrumental parts more. She did a wonderful job, helping me remake/remodel the sound of the music to a degree. Then I eliminated a few tracks to focus on the core of the record, making it a more cohesive album. There are a few bands around now who have been incorporating spoken word into their music, like Dry Cleaning and Black Country, New Road, so it seems like this kind of thing is in the air at the moment, making the reissue seem timely. Short Stories Redux is now the album that should have been – and I hope more people get a chance to hear it this time around.”

credits

released August 6, 2021

Becca Ayers: Spoken Word
Chris Grady: Trumpet

RECORDED AND MIXED IN NYC
2002

RESTORED AND REMASTERED BY JESSICA THOMPSON

For licensing inquires contact Jonathan Hafter at Big Sounds International
info@bigsoundsintl.com

Created by Nolan Green
a.k.a. the grassy knoll

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the grassy knoll Baltimore, Maryland

If you enjoy the grassy knoll's music, please check out "of sound and fury"... 30 years of creating music under the moniker the grassy knoll. The good, the bad, and the pursuit to keep pushing on. Read the stories, comment, and participate here: ofsoundandfury.substack.com ... more

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