Laurence Bond Miller

L. B. M.
LAURENCE  BOND  MILLER
Unplugged, and Multi-Track Full Band Simulation


"...veteran local postpunk singer song-writer who writes angular, sometimes bitingly beautiful introspective songs that have been described as Robyn Hitchcock meets Sylvia Plath..."
ANN ARBOR OBSERVER 1996

L.B.M. is his own bad self going out alone, typically playing solo on acoustic guitar "unplugged"
and singing primarily my own songs.  Writing and recording original songs began during
his teen years, then inspired greatly by the late Syd Barrett and Marc Bolan (before
Bolan went metal).  Since that time Laurence has dabbled in the unplugged
arena from time to time throughout his scattered career.

Far more interesting than his "live" performances are Miller's solo recordings over
the years.  These are packed with painstaking multitrack acting as a
full band with many of the songs he's performed over the years.

Contact Laurence Miller @  mlbmiller@gmail.com

 THIS ENTIRE PAGE IS CRONOLOGICAL 

AU NATURAL
   (c) 1987

LARGER THAN LIFE
   (c) 1986

MANILA MOON
   (c) 1986

LAURENCE MILLER Self-Titled
   (c) 1986

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"... a violet by any other name ..."
c) 2009 FarFetched Records
$12.00
Multitrack Solo Recordings
(USA orders include postage & handling)

FRONT COVER

Listen to the MP3 samples below.
Some of these are performed by MY BIOGRAPHY

Meanwhile, order direct from the horse's mouth:
 mlbmiller@gmail.com  

                

               WE WEAVE
               WATERFALL OF STARS
               IN FEMININE
               OK
               SO LONG
               BULL'S EYE
               DREAM GIRL
               BLUE SKY
               GOOD EVENING TO YOU
               BURNING SUN OF CONTRADICTION
               THERE'S A POEM IN MY HEAD
               I CAN SEE INSIDE YOU
               GILLIGAN'S RERUN
               FRIDAY'S MUSEUM

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In 2003 Miller decided to play out solo again, shortly thereafter teaming up with Katsumi Nagae
as MILLER & KATSUMI. Though still playing a vast majority of oldies, he did begin
to write again.  By 2006 Miller had a full Cd's worth of new material as
well as new versions of older numbers.

  
HAPPY THOSE IN VALENTINE
(c) 2006 FarFetched Records
$12.00
Multitrack Solo Recordings

FRONT                                                                      BACK

                 PHOTOGRAPHS YOU NEVER SEE
               NATURAL CAUSES
               VALENTINE SONG
               HE'S THE WILD UTILITARIAN
               STILL IT MIGHT BE WHY...
               BLUE ICE
               PROFILES IN CAMEO
               AS THE WORLD CRUMBLES
               HOW CAN IT BE THAT EASY?
               ONE HOPELESS ROMANTIC
               SEA ANEMONE
               MUM'S THE WORD (SO READ MY LIPS)
               TURNING TO TURN, AGAIN
               Bonus Cut: Phone Interview w/Sean @ WMUC 88.1 Washington D.C.

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Two years prior to releasing HAPPY THOSE IN VALENTINE, Miller recorded "live" unplugged.

LBM "Live" @ DREAMLAND THEATRE
(c) 2004 FarFetched Records
Unplugged / acoustic guitar and voice
OUT OF STOCK

FRONT                                                                      BACK

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To continue our history lesson here, it was one year before that when Laurence released a CD
compilation of the best material found on his well over looked, self-produced cassette tapes
of the 80s. Some of these songs were performed and recorded with his New Wave
Pop band of that day, THE EMPTY SET, occuring simultaniously.

DEMONSTRATION
Demo Tapes from Yesteryear
(c) 2003 FarFetched Records
LowFi 4-track recordings
PRESENTLY OUT OF STOCK

 FRONT                                                               BACK

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In 2002 Laurence took the time to sift thru a ton of old reel to reel tapes from his youth,
putting together a Cd entitled "TURN A LEFT AND DOWN THE HALL".  This collecion
is truly avant garde material, the kind of which you may never have guessed.

LINEAR NOTES:
"These compositions were written and recorded between September 1974 and May 1976.  Though primarily instrumental pieces, many had lyrics and many used the bass clarinet as
my predominant insturment of choice.  Most songs were recorded at my folk's house in Ann Arbor, while the rest were put together in my apartment in college. Recording gear was low tech, consisting of one microphone and a tape recorder with the Sound-On-Sound feature.
This SOS feature allowed one to "bounce" a previously recorded track from channel
A over to channel B, while then recording a new track over that, simultaniously.
This process could be repeated back and forth several times, before losing
too much audio fidelity. To be perfectly honest though, some of the songs
in this collection were built on nothing less then pure,
raw inspiration, thus not always fully realized."

NOTE: In 2006 Miller created a short playful existential film by the same name,
using the title track as the theme song to which the film was based on.

TURN A LEFT, AND DOWN THE HALL
(c) 2002 FarFetched Records
$20.00
Multitrack Solo Recordings from Pluto

FRONT                                                                      BACK

 
INSIDE PHOTO

Striking a pose with his axe of that time, the Bb clarinet, in the woods, on a beautiful fall day.

Photo by Ben Miller

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Backing up now into the last century, there was a point in the mid 90's where Laurence took a short lived haitus from his right-brain-child (LARYNX ZILLION'S NOVELTY SHOP) and formed
the rock band GORDON GIGANTIC.  During this phaze between 1995 and 1996 he had his 4th
adolescence.  Laurence wrote and recorded a whole lot of solo rock stuff with the intention to release 2 Cd's. PLAGUE OF LOVE (love, lust, and lunacy) and LOVE SICK TO DEATH.  However, Plague of Love (released in 1997 on cassette) was sadly the only one to see the
light of day, now long since out of print. Below you'll find samples from that vast collection.

PLAGUE OF LOVE (Love, Lust, and Lunacy)|
(c) 1997 FarFetched Records
NOT IN PRINT
Multitrack R&R Solo Recordings

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Oddly enough, it was at this exact time that Laurence began playing out "unplugged" again.
Go figure. Having not played solo since the 80's, he ended up playing a lot of his older material.  Below is his one & only recording of that mid-90's period, then printed on cassette, called
LAURENCE w/a "U" (since re-released here on CD format w/bonus cut).

NOTE:  Laurence was going in several directions by this time;  Booking various performance acts at
the Gypsy Cafe in Ann Arbor, writing poetry again, closing up shop on Larynx Zillion's Novelties,
dabbling in comic lounge, scripting film ideas, and singing in a big band ~ to name but a few.

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Long before Laurence Miller's musical career began chugging along,
as a young teen still living at home attending high school,
Larry Miller was writing wierd short little songs lasting
no more than a minute. He hated repitition.

Check out these two samples from that time.
( NOTE: These are not for public release ~ simply uploaded to satisfy your curiousity )

THE EMBLEM MAN (c) 1969
Written in 1969 and recorded 1970 -- My brother Ben was backing me up here on guitar and voice.  As in many
of the songs I wrote back in my early teens, this song had a drawing which the song was inspired from.  I'll scan
and post it shortly.  As stated, repetition and development was not my interest, hence like all my songs written back then, this one is about one minute long.

THE ORMS OF YALE (c) 1970
Written and recorded 1970 -- Back then I liked to make up words and attach meanings to them.
Orms for instance meant "oysters".  Who wants to do the math...?