A Dry Flattened Frog

Last night I played the open mic at The Treehouse in Columbus, Ohio. As I finished the first verse of Haven't Had Not, ("I knew right away that his plan was to eat it.") some people in the front started laughing.

It was kinda weird. I actually saw this guy in Cambodia. Even by Cambodian standards he looked impoverished and it wasn't funny at the time. My intention in this song was not to make fun of him.

On the other hand, I actually got a genuine reaction from my music. People were actually listening to the words. So that's pretty cool.

It'll Never Come Again

My new album is finished and ready for free download! Ahhhhhhhh...



I decided to call it It'll Never Come Again (from the lyrics in the song Early Test) because that's how I feel about this music. It all originated in moments of inspiration and if I had let those moments pass this music certainly wouldn't be here today. The eleven songs were written over a five year period, starting with More to See which I wrote back in college and ending with Yours on Earth and Haven't Had Not which both came about while I was recording the other songs.

Christin thinks you can trace the progression of my songwriting through this album, from Station (which she insists is a bunch of gobbledy-goop) to Yours on Earth (which apparently has a more concise message). I'd have to say that I agree with her.

Anyway, it's been a lot of work. It would have been finished a lot sooner if I hadn't been so lazy this summer, but I think the music sounds better for it. The entire thing was recorded on my MacBook through the internal microphone at my apartment and two of the schools I teach at in Japan. None of these environments were in any way sound proof so you can enjoy plenty of ambient noise. (Listen for the crickets on Early Test and the car driving by at the end of Beauty's Never Ugly.)

Now, I need to say thanks. First, thank you Christin for all of the work that you did on the website, promotion, research, inspiration, and kicking my ass into gear. I would not have finished all this without you. I also want to thank all the people who inspired this music and all the musicians I've played with past and present, especially Kevin and Shannon who were there when I wrote a bunch of this stuff. (Shannon also wrote one of the guitar parts in More to See.) Thank you Patrick and Brad for letting me play these songs at your bars (and thanks twice for the guitar Patrick). Thank you Eddie for helping me get the drums recorded. Thank you Mr. Horiguchi for letting me record at your schools and use your piano (even if you didn't know about it at the time). Thank you Grandma and Lauren for inspiring some of these songs. Thank you to all the rest of my family, friends, and fans for supporting me and telling me that I'm great (even when I suck). And finally thank YOU for reading this far.

As if I needed another reason to get naked...

I wanted to change one of the lines in Origami today, but as I was trying to re-record it I just couldn't get it to sound right.

The vocals were originally recorded in the shower, giving them this cool reverby effect that goes with the whole etherealness of the rest of the song. So I was back in the shower tonight and I kept singing new line over and over again, but there was never any reverb when I played it back. The whole dreamy feel was gone and I couldn't figure out why.

Then, it hit me. I recorded the original vocals back in August, which means that it was balls-ass hot, which means that I was butt-ass naked. I needed to get naked again. My thick December pajamas were dampening the reverb and soaking up all the ethereal.

So I braved the December cold (there's no central heating in our apartment), dropped trow, and got back in that shower. I'm happy to say that it worked.

So let that be a lesson to you: If things aren't going your way, get naked.


This is a quick preview of Origami. The line I recorded tonight was "Endless fields of ripe blueberries."

Electric Guitar

I was going to do this whole album on my acoustic guitar, but then I met someone with an electric. At the same time, some of the parts (especially the lead guitar parts) weren't sounding right. So I said screw it and borrowed the electric for a few days. I'm glad I did.

Tonight I added a slide guitar to "Beauty's Never Ugly" and I think it sounds pretty good. I'm not very good at the slide, so the part I played was pretty basic but it kind of makes it sound like a brand new song to me.

This is the first time in a while that I've been excited about this song. It's been nothing but trouble for me to record and nothing has ever sounded right. It actually took me about 2 hours of trial and error guitar soloing before I figured out that it would sound better with the slide.

I only have the electric for 2 more days, so I'm going to be up late in the GLC piano room both nights adding guitar solos and backwards weirdness to the album. It's nice to be playing an electric guitar again. (Thanks Patrick.)

My Japanese Debut (but for real this time)

I played my first show last night at Freestyle Bar in Maebashi. I was pretty nervous about the new material (and the old stuff that I'd never played on stage), but everybody (a few friends and a random group of Japanese businessmen/women) was into it.

Playing alone is not like playing in a band. The noise that the band creates kind of envelops you like a fog. It wraps around you like a warm blanket. It's a suit of armor that makes you feel invincible. I could keep going with the lame metaphors, but I think you get it. You're putting yourself out there either way, but when it's just you up there there's nowhere to hide.

I played a new song that I hadn't put online anywhere yet. It's called "Yours on Earth." Here it is:

The show went well. I can't wait to play again.

This was the set list:

I Know
Beauty's Never Ugly
No More War Songs>Your Pussy's Glued to a Building on Fire
Yours on Earth
I've been Stuck in NYC for Way Too Long
More to See
Turn it On (sing-along version)

I sang in church (but it's not like that)

I taught my first music class today in a small church near the English school I work at. They wanted to learn a song in English, so I chose "Love Me Do" by the Beatles because it's so simple. At my boss' request I also did "Amazing Grace".

It felt a little weird to be sitting in church singing a song praising God, but I agreed because it is a beautiful song. That's the great thing about atheism, you don't have any faith to violate.

The class went really well. I tried to focus on teaching them the meaning of the songs while also touching on the pronunciation of some of the trickier words. Although, since "Amazing Grace" was written in like 1779 it is filled with tricky words like toils, wretch, thus far, and 'twas.

It did feel cool to have a whole chorus singing along with me, though.

My Japanese Debut

Last night we went to see a Jazz trio at this tiny place in Saitama prefecture called Club Kuest (like quest, but with a k). The band played some classic Jazz standards. The singer had a really cool voice and her English pronunciation was so good that it was actually a little jarring when she spoke to the audience in Japanese between numbers.

The highlight for me, though, was the cellist. He was frickin' sweet. It was the first time I ever heard the 12 bar blues played on a cello.

After their first set they started jamming with the owner of the bar and some audience members. Just as they were getting warmed up, a friend of mine ushered me up on the stage and asked me to play a song. It was pretty rough.

The band seemed to insist on playing with me, so I decided to play "I Know" because it's a simple song. I showed them the chords and seemed to follow me, so we started the song, but I was playing an acoustic that wasn't plugged in and they didn't know the chords so it just kind of stuck to G-D the whole time. It basically sounded like shit and wasn't that fun, but hey, at least I got a chance to perform one of my songs in a Japanese Jazz club.

Cello? You gotta bass.

Later I picked up an electric guitar and attempted to initiate a freestyle jam, but that kind of went nowhere. The other guys just seemed confused and didn't know what to play so I just kind of cranked up the volume and whaled away. I don't think it went over very well.

At the end I got on the drums and finally found my niche. It was the first time everybody seemed to appreciate the fact that I had a slightly different approach to playing. At least things ended well.

the oldies

I've been pretty productive lately. I've gotten 3 songs most of the way recorded in the last week: More to See, Station, and Origami. These are the three oldest songs I'm putting on the album. I'm not all that prolific as a writer, and some of these oldies are really good so I need to get them recorded and out there so I can feel some closure and move on with my new ideas.

More to See is one of the first songs I ever wrote. It was one of those things that just suddenly pours out of you all at once as if it was already fully formed. I'm still not really sure if I actually wrote this song or if I just transcribed it. But it's one of my favorites.

I wrote Station around the time I finished college. It's a slow ode to disillusionment, which was my specialty at the time. I played it with Shannon and Kevin during the post-Stragglers days, but it fell by the wayside when we became Ålushus.

Origami is from the Brooklyn era. I started playing this thing that had a really complex fingering, and then I realized that it would be easier if I just re-tuned my guitar to DADABE. It has a very mystic feel, much different from the rest of the stuff on the album. On both this one and Station I have recorded two rhythm guitar parts and panned one all the way to the right and the other to the left.

After I add some lead guitar parts and backwards magic these songs will probably be finished. It all makes me nostalgic for the confining simplicity of a four-track tape recorder.

couple a newbs

I worked on a couple of new songs today.

One of them was inspired by a friend. We were talking about my music and she said she wanted to hear something that would make her want to get up and go out and do something. Something inspiring. I realized that none of my songs were like that, so I decided to take up the challenge. We'll see whether or not I'm successful.

The other one is kind of about having and not having. I'm writing it like the NYC song, using real experiences that I've had to kind of sketch out a complex issue. I had to get rid of some stuff 'cause it was too damn preachy (the biggest weakness in my songwriting). I've got a few stories laid out and I'm waiting for inspiration to provide the rest, but she's got her own schedule.

Recording Update #1

So I started recording "Beauty's Never Ugly" because I thought it would be pretty easy. That was three weeks ago. For some reason I just can't get anything on that track to sound right. The vocals aren't in time with the guitar, the background vocals are out of tune, and laying down a lead guitar track is proving extremely difficult with my set up.

So I put it on the back burner and started recording "More to See". It's one of the first songs I ever wrote and I've recorded it before, so it's going pretty well. It's also the only collaborative effort that will go on this album. Some of the guitar parts were written by Shannon back in the pre-Straggler days.

I first recorded "More to See" in a hot little walk-in closet in North Carolina, now I'm re-recording it in a sweaty little laundry room in Japan. Listen for me playing the washing machine during the chorus.

Announcing the Grand Opening of the All New kylebutlermusic.com!!!

Basically we put this together so that you could get all my music, video, news, and info in one place. Let me explain just how this thing works:

The home page is where you can find a goofy picture of me.

The listen page is where you can... (take a wild guess...) ... listen to my music! The songs up here right now are just demos of demos that I am sharing with you guys (although it riddles me with self-conscious anxiety). I am working on a proper album which I hope to have finished in the next month or 2.

The watch page is where you can watch my YouTube videos.

The see page is where you can find out about any upcoming shows I'm playing or get tour information. (If you want to "see" me live. Get it?)

The connect page is where you can check out the various sites that are used to make up my online persona. You can also grab some of my widgets for your blog or myspace page and sign up for the mailing list.

The download page is where you will be able to download my music. Since the stuff up right now is a bunch of unfinished demos, I don't want it circulating out of my control. But once I finish the album you will be able to download it for free if you join the mailing list.

*** A note about the mailing list: I don't like mailing lists either, which is why we WILL NOT spam your inbox. We will only send out emails when something major happens, and that will most likely be a rare occurrence. ***

The follow page is where you can find this blog. I will mostly use it for the minor updates that don't merit alerting the aforementioned mailing list. But I may also use it for other things if they tickle my whimsy.

So that's the site. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any suggestions or just wanna say hi you can email me using the link at the bottom of the connect page.

One more thing. Making a website is damn hard work, and all the credit goes to my webmaster/wife, Christin. She has spent many a long and stressful night squeezing this gem out of the extremely crappy software that came on my MacBook. She did all the technical canoodling with no prior training while I just popped in to help with the fun parts (like writing the blog). Thanks, Christin.