Last updated 24 July 2007
 

FREE STUDIO TIME PROGRAM

After a long leave and much contemplation, I have upgraded and updated the studio and the studio is recording and producing projects again.  It's been a long time away from recording, but the recording itch is undeniable and refuses to go away.  There have been many amazing  developments in my world, and one of the most pertinent is that I and the studio no longer have to be tied to the whims of a major label looking for the next hit.  The studio can concentrate on the creative process once again, making passionate music with passionate people who believe in the music they make.  The studio now has the freedom to choose exactly the bands we want, looking for ones that show promise, who make music because it's something that they're compelled to make out of desire for tangible expression.

The studio is now looking for bands we think are doing something amazing and unique, offering them a chance to record at a place that will make them sound as good if not better than anywhere else in the world, and for a fraction of the cost.  You will be recording with Keith Cleversley's long-time engineer; Andy Bosnak, and Keith often wanders around checking sounds and tweaking mixes.

THE DEAL: If you are an unsigned band without a studio recording, simply send us your demo, whatever quality, or e-mail us a link to a few of your songs.  Every 3 months, we will choose one band, and give them a free weekend of recording at The Playground, complete with a free place to stay. 
That's 4 young bands a year, free, no strings attached.

Send your links to your music HERE.

Send your demos here:

The Playground
2044 W Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612

It's been a strange number of years for alternative rock and the music industry as a whole, and since it's been so kind to Keith, he's taking much more time to simply soak in life, rather than keeping himself chained to the mixing console 16 hours a day.  He's still mixing and mastering a few select projects, but is taking on much fewer than he has in the past. 

Andy Bosnak, Keith's engineer for many years, will be recording many of the the projects that come through here now; he's an amazing talent, and he knows all of Keith's various tricks.

Keith got his pilot's license in 2004, his DiveMaster Certification in 2005, and met the love of his live; Venus, in 2006.  Besides reveling in the beauty of flight in the sky and below the oceans, Keith and Venus travel as much as possible to all the places they dreamed of traveling. 
You can see constantly updated photos HERE. 

He is also the founder of an Amazon Rainforest Coalition that organizes the purchase of large tracts of land in the Amazon to prevent logging and oil companies from buying them, then returning possession of them to the natives.  It's a drop in the bucket, but imagine a world where there was no resistance to the government's tragic environmental policies, and the continued destruction of this beautiful planet by so many big industries.

Keith and Venus now spend much of their time at their places in Cozumel; a small island that truly is a tropical paradise.  Their first place was Chan Nahil and their new residence is Cozumel Casita; an ongoing project that never seems complete.

The studio is usually booked about 1-3 months in advance, but there are often slots for projects that are only a few days long anytime. 

Andy can be reached directly at: (773) 871-9870

FLICKERSTICK finally put the finishing touches on the new record; Tarantule. 
It's been a long time coming, but they promise that their fans will not be disappointed. 
The record was finally released at the end of 2004. 

::tintin: released their first full length record in January!  This is one of Keith's favorite young bands...as one reviewer said; "With such epic-sounding influences, it's no surprise that Tintin has managed to make its meager three-piece lineup echo and swell like a phalanx of ax-slingers, an entire battalion of instrumentalists. On the group's recent self-titled debut, most of the tracks clock in at over eight minutes, twisted into neat melodic helixes and set adrift in seas of sighs and whispers. Not that the shit is wimpy -- there are filaments of grim stamina wired into Tintin's music, ligaments of tension stretched taut throughout the songs' puffy, amorphous structures. Such towering sounds are usually made nowadays by massive ensembles like Godspeed! You Black Emperor and the Polyphonic Spree, sporting up to two dozen players on stage at once. That Tintin can pull off even a fraction of that magnificence with just three instruments is quite a feat, and it harks back to another trio whose whole is way bigger than the sum of its parts: Built to Spill.

CLEAN RAY came to the Playground in January to record a full length album.  The band's influences include a variety of styles mostly under the rock 'n' roll genre with a sound that merges classic and alternative rock. They pride themselves on genre exploration and hope to achieve stylistic variety within their music. 

TIME OUT DRAWER is finally going to come to the Playground late January/Early February to work on their next record...look for it in the Spring of 2004.

DECEMBER 2003 JOURNAL ENTRY: So many bands have broken up, so many people have been fired from labels, and so many bands have been dropped from labels; it's a strange time in the music biz for rock.   Three of my favorite bands broke up or were dropped this year; SOUND OF URCHIN, TURNERJOY, and ABSINTHE BLIND.  RCA dropped 60% of its rock acts and signed ALL EIGHT finalists from the American Idol show...where are all the great indie rock bands these days?  Keith is finishing up FLICKERSTICK remixes, and hopes to find music he is passionate about recording in the near-future.

FLICKERSTICK finally came to The Playground to make their new record the last week of July through the end of August.  This record is going to be their best yet; their new material is absolutely STUNNING!  We are done with the record and it came out BETTER than we all had hoped! - Look for a JANUARY 2004 release.

The TIME OUT DRAWER did additional tracking, production, and mixing at The Playground in May and June.  They're a great band; see their slick site for lot of info.  They return in OCTOBER 2003 to record their next record...Keith is SUPER excited about it!

TINTIN, a kick-ass Boulder, CO band with all kinds of space rock deliciousness going on recorded an album at the Playground in June.  If HUM, Mercury Rev and Mogwai made an album together, it might sound something like this.

FREE ELEMENT made an album in May.  They're a young band with lots of promise!  They combine the GIANT ROCK of Hum with unique melodies and lyrics.  They are returning to the Playground in early of 2004 to finishe record.
 

THE ROSENBERGS from NYC made a record with Keith starting that started on the 12th of January for Force MP, a new label out of St. Louis. 
The Rosenbergs made a huge splash at SXSW recently.

FLICKERSTICK was scheduled to come into the Playground during the 2nd week of April, but they broke up! - Their new stuff was STUNNING as well!

DRIVEWAY (formerly MaDe on Universal Records) were in during January 2003 to do an EP.

SOME RECENT PRESS:

Centaur: "In Streams" Review   |  Turnerjoy: "Transplant" Review

Mayflies USA: "Walking in a Straight Line" CMJ Review

Mayflies USA: "Walking in a Straight Line" HomeBrew Review