UPDATE- It's FREAKING DONE. Buy yours now by clicking on the cover, foo'! The CD is $7.99 (MP3.com is doing their best to make the CDs expensive, as I originally wanted to sell it for $6.99, but mp3.com doesn't like that), and the MP3.com "NetCD" is $4.00. Also listen to new demos of ours on our mp3.com site!

Hear the Songs / Albums
- CD: Different Like You
- Non-CD songs
What the hell is Mutual Exclusion?
Who are we?
Pictures
Our Equipment (playing and recording)

What the hell is Mutual Exclusion?

Glad you asked that. It's a computer geek thing. We're computer geeks. Mutual Exclusion is is the concept that addresses the situation where two (or more) functions call upon the same data. The idea is to let this occur without causing data conflicts/lost data/incorrect data. Neat, eh.

Who are we?

Glad you asked that. We're a pseudo-band comprised of Jennifer Hsu (the notorious smoo), and I. We both play the guitar. Jen has played for around three years. Me, I just finished my second (as of Nov. '00, if I never update this again). She likes rhythm, I can "lead"... it seems to work half the time. The other half, we watch movies. Anyway, the lyrics to our songs are written by myself, while both Jen and I trade off for writing instrumentals. Solos and lead riffs are generally written by me (so now you know who to blame). Since it's obvious once you hear our recordings that the person singing is male, that'd be me. I love to sing, although I don't always do it particularly well. But to my defense, you'd be surprised how incredibly difficult it is to do mildly well with around 70 decibels of loudness screaming right next to your left ear.

Email us here.

Band Pictures:

The Band - in my apartment, after a long, long practice session
Myself - playing what appears to be lead guitar, although I'm not entirely sure
Jen - playing slide guitar for some reason
Show (playing)- a picture from a show we did at my apartment... pretty good turnout.
Show (between songs)- picture #2 from the show... I actually think it may have happened before the picture above, but whatever.

Songs:
the following tracks are off the CD, "Different Like You".
Studio Recordings:
'I'm Alright' - A year ago, a friend very dear to me left for study abroad. After spending the good part of 2 years making this person my life, I had to deal with them leaving for a year, and no longer being there. This was my way of doing just that. Play/Lyrics
'Different Like You' - - a while ago, I was involved in something that I wanted so hard to hang on to... and couldn't. I realized two things: there are no such things as knights in shining armor, and some people can't or don't want to be 'saved'. And you shouldn't try. Play/Lyrics
'Overload' - sometimes change is just too much to deal with. A very personal song. A song about how I've felt before. Loud. Thick. Angry, but sung at the brink of tears. When life hands you a lemon, write a song with it. Play/Lyrics
'At Home' - A bit ago I was involved in a relationship that made me happy (and in some ways, still does), but it was a long distance relationship. I remembered many nights thinking about being there... and as the time approached I grew nervous. This song was the result. Play/Lyrics.

Live Recordings:
'Different Like You' - a while ago, I was involved in something that I wanted so hard to hang on to... and couldn't. I realized two things: there are no such things as knights in shining armor, and some people can't or don't want to be 'saved'. And you shouldn't try.
Hi-Fi Download"
'Overload' - sometimes change is just too much to deal with. A very personal song. A song about how I've felt before. Loud. Although this recording doesn't show it. More impressive when recorded with better mics, and when I don't suck, and remember lyrics.
Hi-Fi Download
'Selfdestructor' - an upbeat sorta upset rock thing... live, it's one of the songs that gets us moving... especially with all that hardcore fuzz. Clean version, live cut. Email for non-clean version!
Play/Download/Lyrics
'Down' - the very first song ever written by Mutex. We've matured quite a lot in 2 years... but the song's still poppy as it's always been, and is always one of our favorites to play. It's about trying to convince someone that you won't let them be alone anymore.
Play/Download/Lyrics

4 Track Recordings:
'Different Like You' - a while ago, I was involved in something that I wanted so hard to hang on to... and couldn't. I realized two things: there are no such things as knights in shining armor, and some people can't or don't want to be 'saved'. And you shouldn't try.
Play/Download/Lyrics
'Selfdestructor' - an upbeat sorta upset rock thing... live, it's one of the songs that gets us moving... especially with all that hardcore fuzz. Clean version, album cut.
Play/Download/Lyrics
'Them' - a relationship that just wasn't meant to happen. The other side to mutex's style, that's more rock than folk, but there's more folk in there than normal for us. MUCH better sounding than the live version, and more up-to-date as to how we play it live than the old ass live version, anyway.
Play/Download/Lyrics

the following songs are not on any current album:
Live Songs:
'I Never Respected It' - dubbed INRI cos its' title is too freaking long. This is sorta... poppy. Folk poppy. Take that for what you will. But it's still rock-like.
Hi-Fi Download

4-Tracked songs:
'The Wish (Rejection Fantasy)' - Alt rock song with a kick. Heavy with an airy acoustic backing, telling the story of a relationship that could never happen, should never happen, and won't ever happen. Cathartic and emotive.
Play/Lyrics
'Found my Way' - Soft acoustic ballad type song about reminding yourself of how much any one person means to you, and what you couldn't live without even if you tried.
Play/Lyrics
'Back Around Here' - A heavy, distorted - yet - acoustic driven song about not accepting someone into your life again, and being unsure of your ability to accept anyone else, either.
Play/Lyrics
'Forget' - a song I wrote after watching a couple have an argument in a restaurant. Sorta Pearl Jam-ish mixed with a little Creed chord voicing, with a distinctly frustrated-Oscar lyric style. I admitt, the drums suck. Sorry, Sam.
Hi-Fi download

Thank you, to Sam, your input was especially important to me. Your help in teaching me about music means more than I can ever explain.

Our songs vary between ballad rock to loud alt-rock. What we play depends on our collective mood, and how well I can bitch to Jen before she just plays what I want her to.

Our Equipment (recording and playing):
Me: Paul Reed Smith Custom 22, Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 Amp Modeler, Johnson J-Station, D'Agostino Les Paul Custom (black), Fender Hotrod Deluxe amp, BOSS Metal Zone MT-II distortion pedal, VOX wah pedal, Epiphone Strat(black), Baby Taylor acoustic, Fostex FD-4 4 Track Digital hard drive recorder, Audio Technica ATM29HE instrument and ATM41HE vocal mics, Alesis QuadraVerb rackmountable effects unit, Alesis NanoCompressor.

Jen: Epiphone Les Paul Special II (black), Rogue CG-30R amp, BOSS Distortion, Martin Sigma acoustic

Equipment we need (if some rich person who likes us decides to buy us):
Mic setups, mic stands, a flanging pedal, phase pedal, a second Metal Zone MT-II for Jen, and a DAT setup. Maybe a chorus pedal while we're at it.

ATTN: