Maximum Strength
| Maximum Strength | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 CD Cover | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1999 | |||
| Recorded | May 1997 - March 1999 | |||
| Length | 1:47:00 | |||
| Label | scary!records | |||
| Dextrometh* chronology | ||||
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Maximum Strength is a collection of music that was put together in the spring of 1999.
Track Listing
CD 1
- The Blonde Beast vs. DJ Dionysus I (4:35)
- Altered States (5:58)
- Zenith/Nadir (3:26)
- cza -> Red Fox (4:28)
- Stroud's Run (0:51)
- Dick Roundtree (2:11)
- Demon Laughing (0:38)
- Randow Noise (2:34)
- Wierdness (2:09)
- The Blonde Beast vs. DJ Dionysus II (3:16)
- Skone (4:20)
- LSD (3:48)
- RSVP (5:36)
- My Eric Blair Special (5:02)
- Oral Brigaide (3:17)
- The Blonde Beast vs. DJ Dionysus III (2:45)
CD 2
- n64 (1:31)
- Blue Fox (6:43)
- varying levels of insanity (1:28)
- The Stalker (3:58)
- Wake-Up Call (0:30)
- Never (4:21)
- Crow's Cry (6:23)
- The Blonde Beast vs. DJ Dionysus IV (3:27)
- me@60bpm (7:40)
- Insomnia (2:22)
- ...into the night (8:55)
- The Blonde Beast vs. DJ Dionysus V (4:20)
Equipment
- Tascam Porta07 4-track Cassette Recorder
- Seagull 12-String Acoustic Guitar
- Gibson Epiphone 6-String Electric Guitar
- Welson ES-335 Electric Guitar
- Fender M-80 Amplifier
- Boss Effect Pedals: Heavy Metal, Digital Chorus
- DOD Effect Pedals: Envelope Filter, Digital Delay, Stereo Flanger
- Audio Technica Dynamic Microphone
- Electro-Voice Dynamic Microphone
- Akai S-20 Phrase Sampler
- Boss DR-660 Drum Machine
CD Cover
Personal Thoughts
It features the first appearances of the Akai S-20 sampler, through which a handful of drum loops were used in about 50% of the tracks. It also features the first and only time I ever played a live drum set in any recordings. A live performance of The Blonde Beast vs. DJ Dionysus (recorded at Ohio University's Front Room on October 3, 1997) is split into segments throughout the course of the collection.
Considering everything over all the years, this is still my favorite collection of music that I've put together. These were the first six months of my life after schooling ended completely. Everything was new, inspiring and exciting.
The first CD covered a period filled with strife. The living situation was claustrophobic and dark in the house I was living in. The final three tracks ("RSVP", "My Eric Blair Special" and "Oral Brigaide") were recorded during a transition period when I was visiting my friends, Mika and Pelageya, in their house in Oberlin, Ohio, over the last two weeks of the year covering Christmas and New Years Eve.
The second CD was all recorded during my time in the country outside Athens, Ohio, in a duplex on Ladd Ridge. The mood and overall environment was a stark contrast to what I had been experiencing since exiting college. It was absolutely peaceful and I had a huge studio space that was always open and ready for work. I spent a lot of time playing and recording this material in the early hours of the day after having working a closing shift at the Burrito Buggy and then drinking coffee at the Union Street Cafe until the sun came up.
