The Velvet Rain - The Effective Edge Podcast's Best Sketches 2005-2007

$0.00 Digital Download Only | MP3 | Out December 5, 2009 | Cat#: squeak-4

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About the Album
Yes, this is album of sketch comedy. And yes, i know that the modern indie label is theoretically supposed to represent a specific genre of sound - ambient dance, pasty white rap, polka-grunge - and never deviate from it, lest the feeble hipstersumer become disoriented and choke on his or her ironic thick-framed glasses. But i've been in a house-clearing mood lately, and have long wanted to bring all these bits together in one place before they slipped entirely into irrelevance, so this seemed like the best way to get it out of my system, branding be damned.

That's a great transition to a little background information: before i left to own/design for Blank Squirrel full-time, i was senior graphic designer for Effective Edge Communications (a marketing and design firm) in Elmira, Ontario from 2004 to 2008. Podcasts were the cat's pajamas back then, and we decided to put together a mostly bi-weekly podcast that would discuss branding strategy and communication design, which i recorded with everyone else in the board room every second Tuesday and edited for Friday. And because i apparently couldn't help myself, i began finishing off each show with a small comedic tidbit. Initially, they were just simple 'deep thought'-style one-liners ('Can you really refuse to install a fuse again?'), but it wasn't long before they were spiraling rapidly out of control. i think it really hit me around Show #9 (wherein i'm ambushed by my angry inner college student) that sketch comedy was a great way, like music, to address things i was thinking about - from political hypocrisy to cultural gruel to interpersonal drama - in an accessible context where people around me weren't necessarily looking for it. And recording the show on a fixed schedule gave me a great incentive to force myself into creating for it (although i wrote a lot of them an hour or two before we started recording), which was good, at least until we all got too busy to waste half our Tuesdays on something that made no money.

So i'm releasing this because i'm happy with what i came up with, specifically these ones i've picked. They're definitely rooted in their time - Bush's re-election, Daniel Powter, The Fast and the Furious, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News, CSI, etc. And though time has dulled the edges on a few of them, i think they still hold up really well, cheap stock music, deliberately butchered accents, inside jokes and all. Listening through again, i can't help but wonder why i didn't keep on going with it. (Actually, that's an easy one, i got busy with other things.) But maybe i'll pick it back up in the future, along with all those other things i'll be picking up, amidst all the new things that are coming up, like this baby that's coming in May. i mean, can't someone just employ me to make stuff up and release it for free on the internet? It'd make things much easier. i see no fault in that solid business plan.

Anyway, hope you like it, and maybe even laugh. Please share it up, and i of course wouldn't mind if you donated something if you like it. Cheers,

-caleb, December 2009

1.		CIT: TTKDU		[4:53]
2.		Chad 'The Butter' Shnrophik Smoothterlude		[1:53]
3.		The Real Deal with Sarah McNeil		[1:32]
4.		Masters of Philosophy		[5:17]
5.		Tay-Kel Coffee and Tooth Whitener		[2:28]
6.		Building a Blockbuster		[6:15]
7.		Battling Isis with a Dolphin, Part 1		[0:57]
8.		Wipe Out Lupine-Folicular Mane Autogenesis Neglect		[6:06]
9.		Spelunking for Wlices		[2:31]
10.		Six-Year-Old News		[3:33]
11.		Touring Special Kevin's Logo Assembly Plant		[5:54]
12.		Wolves on a Boat		[1:57]
13.		Battling Isis with a Dolphin, Part 2		[2:33]
14.		The Silk Breeze No-Repeat Workday		[2:04]
15.		Sport Word-Talking with the Coach		[2:01]
16.		Editorial: Alternative Energy		[3:15]
17.		Man on the Street Interviews		[3:40]
18.		Indepth Coverage, Rashxxxxxxxxx, Community Service		[3:02]