Hi & Half-Tight

As opposed to Drunk & Stoned, say

Faux Jean is a singer-songwriter from Duluth, Minn. Each week he adds a new song to an evolving record series over on Bandcamp and writes about it here. “From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler” is somewhere between a fake newsletter and a faux press release for the eponymous wabi-sabi private label album series that continues to evolve over there. Thanks for checking it out.

Faux Friends,

I survived the tropical storm and earthquake in Southern California on Sunday and am happy to be safe, dry and alive, sharing “new” sounds with you!

I started kind of going through some of the old tapes and this week I present you with an early idea/sketch called “Hi & Half-Tight,” a demo that I made at the City Sound practice space in the year 2000. (Listen in the player above.)

Photo of the cassette from which today’s song addition to the “Mixed Up Files” was taken. (ripped?)

If you look at the second-to-last song on side A in the picture above, it reads: “instrumental D&S kinda 1465-1597.”

That is today’s song, which was my desperate, early attempt at understanding “D&S,” or “Drunk and Stoned,” which eventually became a fan favorite for the Faux Jean band, and appeared on the 2003 Susstones release, Dead Lover.

I say desperate, because the drumming sounds like someone who is not trained¹ to play an instrument is being forced to do so by the necessity of the situation.

And that is what happened.

I had fun making it, and I hope you enjoy listening to it, but for folks who need a steady tempo and reasonable mid-range levels, this probably ain’t your thing.

I wouldn’t call this metal, but it’s about as RAWK as I get.

“Hi & Half-Tight” as a title is a play on “Drunk and Stoned.”

“Half-Tight” is Hemingway-speak for “half-drunk” and “Hi” is a softening of “high” which is “stoned.”

And then there is “high and tight” which refers to a certain hair style.

And then there is my own hair, which I now cut myself, and sadly might fall into the rubric of Hi & Half-Tight.

This is not high and tight.

I remain your humble servant,

OX&C,

Faux Jean

1. Not well?