This is the printable cover for Disco Hike.
Since I use it to make labels, it's tailored to my printer and browser (IE7) settings. It might not look or print as nicely on your PC.
I suggest you try a print preview and/or low-ink draft print before trying to print actual labels.
Make sure you configure your browser to print backgrounds, or the images won't print.
Set your left/right printer margins to 0.75 and your top/bottom margins to 0.50.
Denali National Park offers ranger-lead "discovery hikes" ("disco hikes" for short). Some of these outings are short, leisurely strolls near the park entrance where the ranger chats about local plants and critters. Others are strenuous day hikes deep within the park, treking the trailless backcountry.
If it were anywhere other than Alaska, I wouldn't even consider hiking with large groups of strangers. However, up there in AK I feel uneasy about tromping through the tundra with all those bears, moose, and pikas around. A backcountry disco hike seems like a great way to see new terrain without getting eaten, trampled, or nibbled to death.
For Tripecac, the "dangerous terrain" is the guitar. I'm technically horrible at it. I've never taken lessons, practiced, or learned more than a couple chords. Any time I put guitar on an album, I'm taking a big risk. I love to play it, though...
The Key of G (2002) was my most "dangerous" album, a reckless sprint through the backcountry. On the day I recorded it, I just happened to be very focused and very lucky, and somehow the album ended up okay (to my ears). If it had been a complete disaster, I doubt I'd have used guitar on subsequent albums, including this one.
Disco Hike's songs were my last batch of tests before that mad dash through the wilderness. They began as a warmup to it, but when finished two years later, were a reaction to it. I kept the wild guitar improvs mostly untouched, but surrounded them with the seasoned safety of the current Tripecac formula: Triton-based improvs edited into listenable, rhythmic grooves.
The vocals act as a guide, starting off scripted, meandering into gabby improvisation, and then periodically converging into a narrative chorus, giving the songs and album a sense of casual direction. Meanwhile, the Triton's familiar voices represent the comforting ambience of a nearby group of hikers. The "dangerous" guitar is still there, but it doesn't seem as threatening, so you can relax and enjoy the view!
These songs were started in 2002 using either Cool Edit, Sonar, Logic, or the Triton's sequencer. They were finished in the autumn of 2004 using Sonar 3 and Sonar 4. There's guitar on "Silverfish", "Rotund", "Apt", "Wah Loop", and "Throb", and vocals on "Ordered", "Rotund", and "Cheating". The rest of the noises come from the Triton.