JSFF is proud to announce the release of Drowning, a song prompted by the criminal manslaughter of an entire American city by Corporatists. This song is dedicated to the victims of American "conservatism" and selfish individualism - those left to die in the city.

If you followed the early coverage of Katrina, you ought to recognize many of the samples in here. Some of them have become quite famous in their own right. I want to thank Crooks and Liars for assembling so many important Katrina-related video clips. I got many of the samples from there. I also want to thank Aaron Broussard for articulating the tragedy of this atrocity with heart, clarity, and compassion in way that I've not seen anyone else accomplish. He's featured prominently and his sad tale became the centerpiece of the song.

I'll let the rest speak for itself: Drowning [Suffocated Mix].

Take a listen and let us know what you think. A mix with full lyrics should be finished soon, so look for it.

Here's the deal. I've finished the music for three - count 'em, three - full length songs. Here are the tenative (working titles):

• Consumer
  
• Drowning (about the flood in New Orleans)
  
• Rage

"Why," you might ask, "Aren't these songs posted on the site?" And despite your rude presumption, I would answer, "Because they have no vocals!"

"Why no vocals?" you might retort, ever so cannily. "Didn't gish just get a brand new 133t microphone? And aren't the actual words already written for Consumer?"

"You are right on all counts, sir or madam," I would say, "Yet still, there are no vocals. So the songs can't be posted."

So this is my not-so-subtle way of kicking gish in the ribs so she gets a move on with it already. I hope it'll be worth the wait.

Haven't updated for a while, but we're fixing to get some work in this weekend. We got some new equipment recently. First off, I decided we defintely needed something better than an onboard sound chip, so I picked up an el-cheapo SoundBlaster LIVE! 24-bit card for $30. I wanted something better, but on our tight budget it will have to do. It should make for better recording and playback at the very least. It came with some useful software as well, including a .wav editor/recorder. We also visited the music store recently. They had an awesome Ibanez guitar for only $200, but a new guitar is relatively low on my list of purchases since I have a hard time integrating it into the songs. We also saw a nice little Yamaha 61-key synth with built-in USB MIDI for $200 that we're thinking about getting. Primarily we'll use it to experiment and come up with rythyms and melodies, but the MIDI capability could come in handy later on. Out of all that stuff, I decided the priority was a quality microphone. That PC microphone wouldn't cut it for long. So now gish's vocals and my T.V. samples will be digitized courtesy of a Shure PG58 vocal microphone, which ended up being much cheaper than I thought it would be (only $50). I've got two completed songs to lay down vocals and samples for this weekend, so I'm hoping to have something new to post soon. Come back often and check for them.