Turtle and Dove

CD release tomorrow night - Charlotte

2010-02-04T11:41:00.002-05:00

Matt and I are working hard on music for tomorrow night's show at the Visulite Theater in Charlotte. I am envisioning a lush, wintry midtempo show with more instrumental bits that usual. We will play material from all three Houstons records and perhaps have a couple guests on stage.

Make sure to come out early for Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony--this is a band that is evolving with grace and really turning out some great shows, winning a lot of fans and making bad ass music. Then of course our dear friend Jon Lindsay closes out the night and I can't wait to hear what he has in store.

The Archer is now available on iTunes, Amazon and other online music retailers and we will have limited edition copies at the show. Hope to see you there!

We do it, most of the time

2009-12-10T17:51:00.002-05:00

This is the last song on our new record. It's also about to be the subject of our first music video. . . "Do What We Can." This is actually an older song for us, written as best I can recall sometime in 2004. Finally, we get this one out of the Houstons system. It's a simple one, but it rings in the ears, and the recording really took on a life of its own. One take on most passes, including vocals. One of those bursts that I love.

This song is _not_ about doing the minimum necessary, not at all.

Do What We Can

I'm so glad you left me
I left the leaving to you
And you made it sound so polite
But I can't say, I can't say
I can't say I'm surprised
Well, would you

And I know that I could do better
But we do what we can, do what we can
Do what we can most of the time, yeah

And now there's finally life in the neighborhood
It's coming around like you said that it could
But is it too late?
It sure feels good, sure feels good
Sure feels good for the moment anyway

And we're both still awake
We could pass it off as a chronic cough yeah
We're still trying, we're still trying
We're still trying to do what we can

All We Ever Wanted

2009-12-10T17:46:00.002-05:00

All We Ever Wanted

Do you know what's right to do
Even as you don't quite do it
Blame it on the winds of love
Blame it like there's nothing to it
Desire is a funny thing
The sun won't shine and the phone won't ring
Laws of nature have been broken
The ground is cracked and the dust will choke us

And I walked away from the devil's love
And the icy stares I'd fantasized of
No wings are fast enough, believe me
When the brownest eyes in the ground release me
Desire is a funny thing
The sun won't shine and the phone won't ring

All we ever wanted, all we ever had was love
All we ever wanted, all we ever needed, love

Coming back was always given
And it never matters how we've been living
Blame on the winds of darkness
When the earth is dry it always sparks this
Desire is a funny thing
The sun won't shine and the phone won't ring

All we ever wanted, all we ever had was love
All we ever wanted, all we ever needed, love

Boyfriend

2009-12-10T17:28:00.003-05:00

Here's another new track (the newest track off The Archer), "Boyfriend". It's sexually vague, quasi-flirtatious, relatively noncommittal, and, generally speaking, generally speaking. Enjoy:

Boyfriend

Pick up the stick and begin to ride
Renovate the chambers of our hearts this time
There's a party in pink, give it one more try
Smoke like water forms clouds in the sky
We eat at the table of our mothers' true love

I want to be your boyfriend
Run around in the grass and then flatten it
Sing songs to the sky in a foreign language
Kick our shoes away and never put them on again

Play a trick on the body to infuse the mind
Procreate and hope for a better time
And when we grow up we get lost in the woods
Trees of the dying never thought that we would
Pull them from the roots and demand the truth, no

Won't you be my girlfriend
Run around in the grass and then flatten it
Sing songs to the sky in a foreign language
Kick our shoes away and never put them on again

And when we grow up we satisfy
Something written in the blood of the sky, it's madness
You radiate through the sadness, that's why
I want you to be mine

I want to be your boyfriend
Run around in the grass and then flatten it
Sing songs to the sky in a foreign language
Kick our shoes away and never put them on again

Wasted Youth

2009-11-18T09:56:00.003-05:00

I'm in love with a place
I used to run as a child
And it's been a bear getting there,
in truth it's been quite a while.
Quite a while

But you, you know just what to do,
I will follow you without complaining
Two lanes run opposite ways,
chest pains from when it wouldn't stop
No it wouldn't stop

No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children
No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children

And all of that crime was a symphony
that played my heart to sleep
And it's dark on the lake where we swim,
it's much darker than I like when I'm diving
Ad I'm diving

No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children
No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children

I want to do right one way
But there's a thousand ways to go wrong
Two voices singing opposite songs
Chest pains from when it all went wrong
. . .

No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children
No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children

Justin Faircloth, 2009

ever heard yourself recorded?

2009-11-12T17:37:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it's hard. Particularly when mixing a record, or mastering a record, editing tracks, and the like. I've been doing this for a long time now and you'd think I'd be over it. But sometimes it's like: "who the hell is that singing, why does he suck so bad, and why did he rip off my lyrics so shamelessly?" Can't that be fixed in the mix?

No. It can't. No self-worth knob I'm afraid. It's the necessary waking-up into the sunshine when I'd really rather roll over.

I am most pleased with this record we are finishing, despite the prior ramblings to the wind. It's good, as in a step forward, a necessary purge, and a balancing act between past and future. Good. We decided to call it "The Archer", in the warrior sense. It's mythological. . . Arjuna, and Athena. Choose your preference. There are many subtler archers, of course, as in Ellen's picture of the bridge. As we cross it, I hope we make peace with the past. That's a novel idea.

Dave's masters sound great. More soon-

Chimney Rock

2009-11-06T11:02:00.002-05:00

So, I figure that this is a fine place to post our lyrics for our upcoming release, The Archer. Here's "Chimney Rock". The lyrics are somewhat abstract and light-headed. I had been climbing.

Point of quasi-interest: we called this song, well, "This Song" for about 6 months. It lead to all sorts of ridiculous Who's On First-type situations. . ."what are we playing next? This Song. What song? Grrrr."

Anyhow:

Chimney Rock

Come here, just a little closer
I want to hear what you have to say, now
I miss you, it's all that I brought
Somehow, we got distracted

This song, stuck in the wrong key
You sing even though it sounds funny
This song, drops a beat
I think it sounds sweet, you think it sounds funny

Come here, just a little closer
You've been standing like a lion
You can hear the words I'm crying
From the top of Chimney Rock today

This song, stuck in the wrong key
You sing even though it sounds funny
This song, drops a beat
I think it sounds sweet, you think it sounds funny

Come here, just a little closer
When the grass is green and the sun is shining
You can hear the words I'm crying
From the top of Chimney Rock today

new songs up tonight

2009-11-05T21:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, we (that's Matt and I) are proud to introduce a number of the tracks off of our new record, The Archer. See the website, www.houstonsmusic.com, to check out the tracks! These are unmastered mixes done by Mitch Easter and recorded by Matt and me, with the help of Mark Lynch. Enjoy!

baking is an art

2009-09-04T23:56:00.002-04:00

Matt and I are making a record the old fashioned way. This is new for us, in that we are sitting down, hitting record, and playing the songs like we do it live. No click tracks, overdubbed synth layers, multiple guitars, no wonderful friends on extra instruments, etc. Not this time. Somebody (or bodies) had to hypnotize us to make it happen it seems, to avoid the kicking and screaming. One armed this, bare feet that. like we do it, and that feels right and feels free.

Nevertheless, we are putting the vocals in later and that's where it starts to feel like baking cookies. We get the ingredients in just right , yet it still feels empty until the last piece is in and we apply the heat, the sonic glue that holds everything together, then all of a sudden either it's happening or it's just not.

"Wasted Youth" sounds freaking incredible. Our dear friend, the beautiful Anna G., did some fantastic vocal work. "This Song", up next and not far off. Stevie is coming in to sing on "Confederate Dunce".
n
I have the new song "Boyfriend" that I thought sounded great, up burning the midnight oil to V's chagrin and loss of rest, only to find the next day that it was complete yacht rock. I swear, we have no fold-out mirror on the console. Not these days. But I wonder if I can knock the bottom out (the reason drums), replace with kit, and that make the difference. It's still on the grid. . . we'll see.

Working title for the upcoming EP: "The Archer". dbrk knows what this means. sarah too. Oh, another major announcement coming up first of the week. . . j

beat us over the head

2009-08-27T09:31:00.002-04:00

It only takes us corporal punishment and traces of sadism to change our ways, really.

In our latest recordings, Matt and I are finally trying what warm-blooded friends have asked, prodded, and demanded that we do for years: make a record that consists of what we no live and little to nothing else. Well, that effort is finally underway. And guess what? Early indications are that it sounds really wonderful. Mark Lynch is helping with the recording tasks and aesthetic choices, and he basically put his foot down on electronic loops, subtle overdubs, synthy bits and the like that I so love. The songs that we are recording are raw, flawed, one-armed, and barefooted. Vocals come this weekend.

Of course this only opens the door for a 180-degree shift in what the next record may entail. (and please forgive the use of the lovely word "record". . .I won't give it up, nor what it represents, even as we embrace the digitalism). Artistically, things are happening and we dig it.

Did I mention a new label relationship is in the works too? More on that soon.

this confederacy, this war.

2009-08-21T10:56:00.005-04:00

Lyrics from an older, unreleased song that we resurrected and are set to release later this year. It seems more appropriate than ever, in some ways.

Confederate Dunce

Get back to Carolina

You know what it is, know what it is, yeah you know what it is

Been there once, had a few friends that never left

Yeah, confederate dunce

Asleep in the road

I thought he’d be dead, thought he’d be dead, yeah thought he’d be dead

But keeping it simple keeps you safe in bed

Down with your man, and

What’s the matter with that?

Isn’t it what you were born to do?

Animals do it and so should you

But you’re the one who slips through the cracks

So get back home to bed

And the magazines you already read

Why don’t you chew on that, chew on that, chew on that

It’s American fat

Yeah, the victim is kicking your ass

He knows what hurts, knows what hurts, yeah knows what hurts

Knows no better than to hide in church, down with the plan, and

What’s the matter with that?

Everything, oh, everything

When you bolted and the bolt burned

You quietly returned

And the minutes will never tick back

Replace the skin with shellac

You’re the one who slips through the cracks

Get back to Carolina

I’m almost broke, almost broke, yeah almost broke

Career is a joke

And I knew you had it coming when you reached for the yoke

And it went to your head

Yeah, the pitfall. You’re already dead, already dead

With the wherewithal

To walk the strip, wear the hot pants and take all the lip, yes, and

What’s the matter with that?

Isn’t it what you were born to do?

Animals do it and so should you

But you’re the one who slips through the cracks

You're the one who slips through the cracks.

Words and music, Justin Faircloth

jalapeno

2009-08-20T22:55:00.003-04:00

We wrote a new song last night. . . as yet unnamed but conceptually it came from dinner, over a couple Bell's ales and a mexican pizza with fresh jalapenos. The idea is one of a love that you know is going to hurt, and in some small sadistic way the expectancy is exciting, the precursor to the hurt. The spiciness!

Matt is into full force experimentation and refinement on the Moog Voyager, and this song came together in a hurry. It was written very softly, similar to our older song Do What We Can in that it is right now a series of verses bounded by instrumental sections with a very small variation in structure. That is subject to change, of course, always. I just remembered that I dreamed the refrain last night and haven't tried it yet. We'll see.

out of the dark

2009-08-19T13:36:00.002-04:00

Hi all--
Apperently the blogger in me took a long winter's nap there for a bit, and. . .now it's august. A quick update: Matt and I are working on a new EP and speaking with a few industry friends (no, not an oxymoron nor moron) on a release plan. Check out the new site! Designed by super-Virginia, you can find it at: www.houstonsmusic.com.

We need more video? Anyone holding on to any that you might share? Hit me up here.

Welcome, welcome back, and I promise there's more to come soon. Justin

pirates

2008-02-05T15:12:00.000-05:00

We're starting preproduction for the new Houstons record this week. Mike is down in the middle of Mardi Gras, but we pinned him down for new drum loops on Pirates, Black Water, and All We Ever Wanted before he left. The loops were inspired by the Bonham outtakes that are floating around the web, and are a really crunchy bottom end to some new orchestration and guitar work by Matt. We'll try to get some mp3s up on the site soon.

backfire

2008-01-16T12:30:00.000-05:00

. . . my resolution to be a handy blogger in 08, well, it didn't work out so much. So far! Things have been wild and wooly, but I'm finally getting new material finished up and offered up to the band. December was the time of new ideas getting started and not much finished. A lot of lyrical cloudiness, where I had an idea of what I wanted to say but a block in how to articulate it. For a while I thought I had kinda aged out of this or had just become more skilled at naturally coming up with flowing lyrics, but it actually seems to come in waves.

Waves of consciousness, actually, have been a recurrent theme lately. There is a lot of deep-seated heartache and anger. Simultaneously, a great amount of joy. I want to capture all of this. It helps to write like this. I've always been told that it helps keep the mind in order when otherwise things might unhinge my thinking. Perhaps this is true.

We're out on tour for a bit starting tomorrow. I love the freedom. Hard to hang out in bars for extended amounts of time and watch the progression of the night unfold at something of a distance. It's like an aquarium. Sometimes I can actually feel the water pressure, it's funny. Like the metaphor becomes surreal.

holiday

2007-12-25T10:40:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas. Santa has been good to me so far. . . lots of merino wool and old wood, my favorites. The kids are squealing and that's a good thing. The morning is crisp and we all want to go outside, but it's time for coffee first. And, thankfulness.

the real wrapping magic

2007-12-20T08:10:00.000-05:00

It happens when you're up at 2 in the morning wrapping presents, you begin to get delirious, and the festive bits of foil and ribbon start to swirl and pulse in your mind, garlands of greenery swell in olfactory bloom and lift your senses. It's like a little winter wonderland in my slightly-off kilter skull. Maybe it's the pain medicine? The sleep deps? Sugar high?

It's my own little Tim Burton-esque holiday before the holidays. I'm such an accomplished escape artist, really. Time to write some songs. The mornings have been good for that lately.

curmudgeon

2007-12-17T09:27:00.000-05:00

I have this thing with my brothers where we maintain a scrooge-like demeanor up until Christmas eve. It's kinda like that scene where Ice Cube is laughing like hell during the photo shoot and then when the photo is snapped he looks hard. It's silly, I know this. But I think it's always been the small protest. You know--way less shopping this year, and I like it. We all drew numbers, me and my people.

I'm confused though. It's still 65 degrees outside. I think Al Gore may have a point, ya'll.

The Warren Haynes festival in Asheville was cool. We played early at Stella Blue and then got down on veggie soul food at the Laughing Seed. Stayed at the Grove Park Inn, which is anything but an inn. Walk-in fireplaces.

Oh yeah, and I ordered a Vanilla. For those select few that know what in the world that means, you know that I am stoked. Merry Xmas to me. I'm glad all my shopping for others is for the most part done so I can avoid the guilt.

cracked ribs suck

2007-12-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

Especially the coughing. . . grrr.

My son wants a sandbox for Xmas. He's a budding Brian Wilson, only more handsome.

dammit

2007-12-12T11:32:00.000-05:00

I think I cracked a rib this morning and screwed up my wrist on the mountain bike. I was borrowing a Santa Cruz with a really wide stance and nailed the bar on a tree. OUCH. I had to just lay there for a minute or two and fly through outer space as I caught my breath. Now I am hating it. Tough guys turn into whiners fast.

We're at Stella Blue in Asheville this weekend, Saturday Dec 15 at 2pm. Been a while since I've played at Stella. Cool folks though, at least from what I can remember.

in studio

2007-12-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

Spent time in the studio this weekend, most with synths and beats. I've been using Reason Thor and the Moog Voyager a lot recently, both of them are such kick-ass synths. Well, those and the piano of course. I've been listening to a lot of medieval chanting and early eastern music and I has me wanting to write songs with these long, arcing melodies over the droning synths. We'll see where that goes. I've found that Christmas music always influences the songs I write in December too.

Looking forward to the festival in Asheville this weekend, don't know many details but our buddies Dead Confederate will be there and hopefully Band of Horses. Love some Asheville, chilly this time of year though.

Which reminds me, the studio sessions with The Parlor Mob at Echo Mountain in Asheville over that past couple months were killer (see pic above). Great band, great studio, great producer (Jacquire King from Nashville). Look out for this album on Roadrunner Records soon. As of now we're planning on doing our next record there. Here's the studio too.

bloody mess

2007-12-07T12:14:00.001-05:00

I had blood drawn this morning. It always makes me a little lightheaded to see the tubes fill up. I'm sure I needed that perfectly good blood for something, like remaining conscious. The wonderful woman with the needle reminded me that "God is real", and I liked it. But I'm still a little lightheaded.

bagged the studio

2007-12-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

. . .until tomorrow night. But that's not really important.

Watched God Grew Tired of Us. http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com/

This is fucking important. Everybody please see this movie and get inspired. I am trembling.

opening up

2007-12-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

Here it is, our/my first blog after lurking in the blogosphere for what has literally become years. I imagine this will become a place for all things involving The Houstons and some things involving me personally at times. My daughter Savannah and I came up with the name together, it's also the name of our musical project together. More on that at another time I suppose.

Exciting times in Houstons land, our new release Still has been added to over 70 college radio stations, and is starting to get a lot of nice reviews (and a few bad ones, I love it). It's cool to just see it out in the world. . . we're already on to the next one. Here is the crew: label MoRisen Records, promotions Pirate, publishing Lion's Gate, PR 1-Up. Props to these kind folks for helping us out.

I went mountain biking this morning and it was chilly, around 30' or so. You'll hear a lot of this from me, I love to ride a bike. First time on the gnarly new trails that I didn't eat it. So, that's good.

OK--In studio tonight, I'll be in touch after that. justin