Household Ink Records

08/20/2024

Thanks to Leslie Dinaberg for including a nice Headless Household mention in her column.

Entertainment up the w***o.

08/13/2024

Here's a new (vintage) one...

" HouseholdTakes El Paseo, 1988" (Household Ink Records).

enjoy safely. and thanks for your ears.

www.householdink.com/headlesshousehold

https://headlesshousehold.bandcamp.com/album/headless-household-takes-el-paseo-1988

https://open.spotify.com/album/27TQdAFd0maEsjlVSHj1as?si=wO49Qy8pTfOe8ECge3l3ng

The long story:

To kick off a periodic series of archival releases by the “hopelessly eclectic” band Headless Household, Household Ink Records humbly presents "Headless Household Takes El Paseo, 1988." This recently-rediscovered board tape from a 1988 live show represents the band in its raw, edgier youthful phase. Recorded five years after the band’s founding--coalescing mostly in the free-spirited and bohemian haven of Baudelaire’s and across the street at the uber-hip Joseppi’s--and one year after its debut album release (and the formation of Household Ink Records), the band took its unique and rough edged sound to the historic Santa Barbaran restaurant and community haunt El Paseo (born in 1922, part of an adobe compound dating back to 1826).
And what was that sound? Punk jazz? Fuso-progressive and free-minded ventures with allowances for humor and genre-bending? Some new blend of aggro ambient music? All of the above?
Rough edges, in terms of sounds and musical interplay, are intact here, befitting the Headless Household code of conduct. The recording also documents stage of a band which would continue through 2020 and a discography of nine studio albums. Here, the core quartet—keyboardist Dick Dunlap, drum-cussionist Tom Lackner, bassist Chris Symer and guitarist/song-slinger Joe Woodard—appear without additives or the large roster of guest musicians who would soon be joining them for annual Center Stage concerts and more produced albums over the next 20 years.
El Paseo, 1988 is all about the raw goods from the Headless salad days.
Song -wise, the setlist included tracks from the debut LP (“Off the Beat,” “Isle of Hugh,” “Gabriel”) and tracks destined for later albums (“Why Joey Can’t Read,” “I’ll Think About It,” “Denver Umlaut,” “Green Swipe Pattern,” “Sufferin’ USA,” “Rumba in Kuwait”) along with two songs finding their first release here. “Day One (Winning of the White Hats)” was actually the first song the quartet worked on in Dunlap's vintage carriage house-turned-music-and-art-studio on Anacapa Street, and “Relentless Nocturne” was a rarely-played item of the odd-metered moody ballad sort.
Voila, the past and echoes of lost youth comes back to haunt and hopefully delight. More to come...


Headless Household Takes El Paseo, 1988

Songage:

1. Why Joey Can’t Read
2. Off the Beat (Dunlap)
3. I’ll Think About It (Lackner/Woodard)
4. Denver Umlaut
5. Day One (Winning of the White Hats) (first HH song, first release)
6. Relentless Nocturne (first release)
7. Green Swipe Pattern
8. Sufferin’ USA
9. Rhythm Truck
10. Isle of Hugh
11. Rumba in Kuwait
12. Gabriel (Lackner/Woodard)

(Songs by Woodard except where noted)

The Household:

Dick Dunlap, keyboards, ‘80s style
Tom Lackner, drums, e-drums
Chris Symer, electric bass, fretted and fretless
Joe Woodard, electrical guitar, Roland guitar synthesizer

Recorded live at El Paseo, Santa Barbara, July 26, 1988
Sound engineer: Doug Coler (from ShadowFax)
Headless Links:
www.householdink.com/headlesshousehold
https://open.spotify.com/album/2Pek219GdrzCAB1BQMhYTN
www.facebook.com/HeadlessHousehold
www.youtube.com/MrHeadlessHousehold

Press quips & clips:
"Headless Household still seems to think that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Clever without being obnoxious, laid-back without snoozing, their quick-dissolve electric studiohead jazz offers an alternative--not exactly a revolution, more a wink than a nod: We haven't given up, how about you?...Awareness won't get you to heaven, but in this case it gets you pretty far."
--Greg Burk, L.A. Weekly
“No, Headless Household is not an Industrial band. They sound like Miles Davis playing with the Kronos Quartet conducted by Sun Ra with occasional vocals by George Jones and backup singers from A Man and a Woman. Wonderful and wonderfully bizarre. If and when Twin Peaks gets another stab at prime-time TV, Headless Household would be the perfect band to play at the lodge.”
--Nick Dedina, Rhapsody.com
“…solid musicianship and an admirable willingness to toss in whatever strikes their fancy.”
--Aaron Steinberg, Jazz Times
“Soundwise, it is an eclectic and surprisingly alluring program that covers a variety of genres that, while certainly experimental, remains accessible. The group’s interest in the fusion of electric and acoustic touches is seen from the outset… Overall, a quirky--in a good way--outing from a group that is certainly charting its own course.” --Jay Collins, Cadence
--“Music this wildly diverse can never be properly marketed in this age of specialization, but that doesn’t make it any less extraordinary.” --Bill Milkowski, Tower Pulse magazine
--“Headless Household achieved regional cult status by the late 1990s, thanks to their quirky and eclectic kind of new music, their relentless live shows and a string of albums….” --All-Music Guide (www.allmusic.com)
“Overall the vibe was great and the music eclectic enough to satisfy any head, household member or not.” –Charles Donelan, Santa Barbara Independent

Downloadable photos @ www.householdink.com/picturehole.htm
For further info, photos, downloadable album, CDs, press clips, etcetera, please e-mail [email protected] www.householdink.com
Headless Household photos: http://www.householdink.com/hhphotos.htm

08/11/2024

Headless Household archival pickwick. This one, "Microdikshion" is really a collaboration between Dick Dunlap and Tom "drumface" Lackner Update Zone... enlightened Headless Household mayhem. Appearing soon on a TV show not near you...

Chris Symer

https://open.spotify.com/track/2qbllpbX8i4Q6VlsrsJwys?si=0f9b007bd1cb4729

Song · Headless Household · 2015

08/09/2024

Bumping into luminous surprises from the past, hidden on hard drives and whatnots: the "lost" arrangement of the classic song "Everybody's Talkin'" recorded for Dudley's album "Doin' Jack "in the back when, but plucked from the final sequence for some reason...
Ellen Turner lends some kind of new depth and meaning to the song, as reconsidered by the band that was (and is--soon releasing a new Dudley album)...
See whatcha think.

www.householdink.com/Dudley. the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1gPWk-1t0s

"Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil), from "Are Our Oars Out?," by Dudley (Household Ink Records, 1996). Ellen Turner, vocals, guitar; Joe Woodard, guitar; Chri...

08/02/2024

tumbling down the old memory rabbit hole... hadn't hear this arena ballad in awhile. that's a snippet of KCSB-FM 91.9 in Santa Barbara's great old "The India Show" in the intro, and our pal Brooke Fulton offering up a secret French message in the middle...so splinkety.
ah, to be young.
(and Kim Reierson's cover art ... and dog).

https://open.spotify.com/track/6cS2WzWzrvE0zgVCNJVOqv?si=7eeb85317d6f42bf

Song · Flapping, Flapping, Flapping · 1995

07/31/2024

Household Ink Records vault-dipping moment.

flapping, Flapping, FLAPPING, "Black Magic Fingers," from TEX (1995).

https://www.householdink.com/flappingflapping/

https://open.spotify.com/track/1N8mRof7JGSYUXq6ti3Agh?si=f64daa6137574a89

Song · Flapping, Flapping, Flapping · 1995

07/24/2024

Headless Household - linked hive mind... we are soon to release an archival album, Headless Household Takes El Paseo, 1988," based on a surprisingly clean-sounding board recording from our gig there on July 26, 1988.
The problem: we've had no luck figuring out who the engineer was on that night. we'd love to give credit, if that's possible. Anybody have an idea who might have been on the El Paseo sound case on that night?
Much thanks to all... Headless Household

www.householdink.com/headlesshouseholdink

07/11/2024

https://www.householdink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/HI-newsletter_7-4-24-v.-2.pdf

06/11/2024

Another fine session with a wunderbar and generous musician, old friend Benny Lackner on piano. He gave us some sweet stylings for our nearly finished Lucinda Lane debut album, recorded at the piano kitchen. Kitchen keeper James Connolly twiddled the k***s, and Benny caressed the keys.
Lucky us!

PS we are grateful that are GoFundMe campaign is moving along sweetly, helping us to ease into the final production stages of the project. If anyone has some panties to throw our way, we are thankful in advance... Or just thankful generally.

https://gofund.me/174d5175

https://www.householdink.com/lucinda_lane/

06/08/2024

Double-barreled past blasts...

This past week, our writer Joe Woodard made a reference to a band he was a part of in the

06/04/2024

Headless Household archive dip time...
"Requiem for a Vacant Lot," from the 1999 album "Free Associations" (recorded at the old Beagle Studio, with the eminent Emmett Sargeant at the k***s). Jeff Elliott is the featured guest on trumpet, and the piano four hands improvised intro brings together Dick Dunlap and Theo Saunders... album cover art by Richard Ross.

Ah, times like those...

Dick Dunlap Jeff Elliott Chris Symer Tom Lackner Emmet Sargeant Headless Household Household Ink Records Richard Ross

"Requiem for a Vacant Lot," (Woodard), Headless Household, from "Free Associations" (Household Ink Records, 1999). Dick Dunlap, piano:Tom Lackner, drums, Chr...

05/27/2024

https://gofund.me/ea430b75

Greetings, friends and future friends. For many years, the band Lucinda Lan… Joe Woodard needs your support for Support Lucinda Lane's Debut Album Journey

05/24/2024

One from the Headless Household vaults for a Friday morning: "(Open Letter to) Manfred Eicher," from the album Items (1995).

"(Open Letter to) Manfred Eicher" (Joe Woodard), Headless Household, from "ITEMS" (Household Ink Records, 1995). Dick Dunlap, keyboards; Chris Symer, bass; T...

02/06/2024

Head's up from Household Ink Records: today, record release Tuesday, marks the release of Dick Dunlap's beauteous solo piano piece "Intersphere," recorded at his ambitious 1981 exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and airlifted into an overdue archival release. Listen up: it's a timeless jewel.

www.householdink.com/dickdunlap

https://richarddickdunlap.bandcamp.com/album/intersphere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjpbq9O1IiE

Dick Dunlap

"Intersphere" is an improvised solo piano performance by Richard "Dick" Dunlap, recorded during his art exhibition of the same name at the Santa Barbara Muse...

01/01/2024

Today's date puts me in mind of a waltz count-off (123123), thus this NYE waltz party favor.

(Next year, a 2/4 number.)

happy happy happy from Headless Household!

Glen Phillips Ellen Turner Bill Flores Tom Ball Nate Birkey Dick Dunlap Chris Symer Richard Ross (fitting cover image supplier)

www.householdink.com/headless

https://youtu.be/c6zNPm6Eoiw

"Of Waltzes" (Joe Woodard), from Headless Household, "post-Polka" (Household Ink Records), 2003. Dick Dunlap, actual piano; Tom Lackner, drums; Kenny Edwards...

12/24/2023

A bit of Christmas cheer, Headless Household style. Our seasoned, tipsy greeting, "For What Ails You," from the album mockhausen.

Enjoy safely, and happy everything to you from the Household.

(Album cover photo by Richard Ross )

Chris Symer Dick Dunlap Tom Lackner

https://open.spotify.com/track/6lJRLRQtW7Ia5xweOEM3NB?si=IJpelhtPQO-_T406VMJoyA

Headless Household · Song · 2009

12/14/2023

Having just watched Aki Kaurismaki's brilliant new film Fallen Leaves - one of the year's best! - I thought about this tune I wrote in tribute to his inspired, go-to cinematographer, Tino Salinen.

Headless Household did me the honor of making it sound like music.

Headless Household Household Ink Records Tom Buckner Chris Symer Dick Dunlap Tom Lackner

"Timo Salminen" (Joe Woodard) Headless Household, from "Basemento," (Household Ink Records, 2010).Dick Dunlap, keyboards; Tom Lackner, drums; David Piltch, b...

10/05/2023

Santa Barbara's hopelessly eclectic outfit Headless Household hits the dance floor again, while trying not to step on anyone's toes. The band's remotely-recorded pandemic dance tune "Holed & Hunkered" was released in a raw, unfinished mix form in the thick of viral things, in 2021. Now, here comes the "real thing"--"Holed & Hunkered Re(al)mix," coming soon to a music portal near you.

This mix includes all the parties who came on board, flying in their parts from hermetically-sealed home studios in remote locations: saxists David Binney and Tom Buckner, drummer/studiomaestro Tom Lackner, Joe Woodard, bajo man Chris Symer, and vocalists Shelly Rudolph, Nicole Lvoff and Liz Barnitz. Stay tuned for news of the impending mix drop.

www.householdink.com/headlesshousehold

11/01/2022

For your potential dining/listening pleasure... Household Ink Records presents the first in its new line of "Ambient Dinner Music" albums, Joe Woodard's "Wedding Album (On this Day)."

Forthwith, another tune from the 11-track menu, a muser called "Afternoon into Evening."

Please enjoy safely.

https://www.householdink.com/joe-woodard/

https://youtu.be/cfIQZC-yNUI

Joe Woodard,
Wedding Album (On this Day)
(Household Ink Records, 2022, HI-157)
"Wedding Album (On this Day)" is an EP consisting of instrumental guitar pieces by Joe Woodard, as played at the wedding of Claire Woodard and her betrothed John Pemberton, on June 21, 2022 at Greens in San Francisco. For the occasion, Claire asked if Joe might play pieces from his large book of what he called his "pleasant, noodly" guitar instrumentals at the event. As a summer project with a cause, Woodard recorded these numbers, in which folk nuzzles up with jazz colors and other flavors, at Would-Be Studio.
Ambient Dinner Music? Could be.
The title tune "On this Day" (heard here in both instrumental and vocal versions) was played while the father guided the bride to the ceremonial destiny of a couple destined to be conjoined connubially. Salutations to the happy couple, on that day and into the wild blue future.
Woodard is still in the sentence construction business by day, but also avidly plugs away at various original music projects. He released a solo album, Goleta Electric, in April, 2022 (which introduced the EP’s song “Freedom in Kentfield,” in vocal clothes). Generally, he prefers to fold into group settings, such as Headless Household, flapping, Flapping, Lucinda Lane, Tableaux Sonique and more to come. (More to Come is not a bandname, although, hm…)
Track listing:
On this day, Claire-ity, Holidazed, Afternoon into Evening, Lulled, Page from the Past, It's Wintertime, Topple the Morning, On This Day (vocal version), Found Weekend, Freedom in Kentfield.

* The EP is available, in digitalia and CD forms, in a lot of the usual outlets… Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Amazon, Discogs, Apple Music, iTunes, the Household Ink Records products page, and more to come.

Joe Woodard, "Afternoon into Evening" (Woodard)Solo guitar piece, from album "Wedding Album (On this Day)," released on November 1, 2022 on Household Ink Rec...