You take an old Soviet vacuum tube, a few bits of laser cut acrylic, and a fresh Zappa tune, smoosh them all together, and you get this:

Shot with a canon a610 point and shoot digital camera almost entirely in Lindy's car.

So you might be asking yourself "what does this song have to do with the fundamentals of electrical engineering?" Nothing really, but it has to have a name and Fleming's Left Hand Rule was on my mind when I composed it.

Fleming's Left Hand Rule - 4:26


One stereo guitar track, six stereo tracks of strings, and one stereo track of effects.

I knew it was bound to happen. It's not like I didn't expect it, but it still came as a surprise. I suppose I've been unconsciously trying to prepare myself for it, but those efforts were for naught. I woke up the other morning and summer was gone. Just like that. No Goodbye, no attempt to work it out, not even a kiss goodbye. Nothing. I tried to deny it for a while. I even left the air conditioners in the windows for a few days hoping it wasn't really happening. Now I'm left trying to find all my forgotten long sleeve shirts, waterproof shoes, and gloves. It's hard to replace shoeless hangouts on a sunny porch with long walks under an umbrella, but I guess I'll have to learn how. Since Summer wasn't brave enough to say an honest goodbye, I guess I'll have to do it.



Brown Leaves & Bloody Noses 4:26

An 18 hour day at work often leads to fits of madness. Feel free to enjoy the end result.

After reading Keith's amazing essay regarding the archetypal significance of a line from a well known episode of Dragnet, I was inspired to get cracking on an audio version of his paintings on the subject.


The Ghost The Beast The Chief The Hawk - 5:40


Have a listen, let it soak for a bit, and I'll be back tomorrow with an explanation telling why it sounds the way it sounds and how it came together. And if you haven't already, head over to Bees & Trees and learn why it's so darn important.

I managed to finish the fronts of all the card for the guys that got traded. There were a few that got left out for various reasons, but I did my best to include everyone I could. This also marks the first appearance of the Krautrockers. Some folks might consider Krautrock a sub-genre of Prog, but I'm more inclined to consider it a root of prog. Perhaps a chicken and egg type argument. Speaking of roosters and hens and eggs; the last one is a nice surprise.

The plan was to make a piece that was 11 minutes long and left intentionally unfinished as part of a new album project. It feels unfinished to me, but maybe not unfinished enough to be added to. I honestly can't tell. After spending a week recording it and two days trying to mix it, I'm leaving it as is. It's built around a couple of Serial Music concepts and a psuedo-cyclical linear visual concept. Care to know more about where the name comes from? Read about it here. This recording features two different Ibanez S-520wnf guitars, the Rogers Coffin guitar, E-bow, E-Mu XL-7, Redsound EleVAta, Roland JP-8000, and various outboard effects.

The Lazarus Reflex - 11:30

I finished my Gristleizer. Come along and watch it happen in super turbo vision:

Gristleizer Assembly and Test from Justin on Vimeo.

I've just about finished the circuit board for the Gristleizer. It's a good looking and well made board, but the layout leaves a bit to be desired. There was much lead bending involved to get all the components to nest in their respective holes. Alas, that's usually how it goes with a first version of anything.