Happiness is a warm gun
Last night was the most invigorating session since we did the live takes.
It's all about the incidental overdubs now, adding touches of character to songs that have begun to take on a second life. I'm excited.
Our friend Lindsay came by to add some backing vocals and ended up playing keyboard on another song as well. It sounded great. Thanks Lindsay!
I'm hopeful that another super-productive session like this one will put us in a good spot to start mixing by next week. Time, time, all it takes is time. Best not to rush, just make sure to get things exactly how we want them. After all, this one's gotta stand the test of time...
Closing In
Feeling like the White Sox tonite - getting closer and closer to the ultimate goal.
I think I have ravaged my vocal cords. Swallowing is rather painful. But the important thing is vocals have been recorded for every single song. Kudos to vitamin water and Halls cough drops.
I sang Power Lines and Red Curtain today, then did guitar on Simple Questions, to which Lupo also added some gospel organ. There's not too much to be done, recording-wise, mostly bits and bobs. Bells and whistles. The Kinetic dog and pony show.
We're working Monday and Wednesday this week, and then hopefully it's on to mixing.
Spoiling for a fight......
Quiet Nights In Fall
We didn't accomplish as much as I hoped on Saturday, but seeing as how it was kind of an experimentation session anyway, and the first real bump in the road so far, I guess it's no great loss. We've got a solid schedule set for the next few weeks and recording itself should be done by the end of the month.
Self-doubt creeping in. To be expected I suppose, after such initial rapture. Immensely depressed by the sound of my singing right now, especially when, after doing a take that felt pretty good, listening back to discover that it's all off-key and horrible. You know the feeling when you hear your own voice recorded, like on an answering machine or something? That weird moment of dissonance at hearing an objective representation of what is usually so subjective, so naturally, unthinkingly
you? Well, imagine listening back to this over and over again, and it's not just some voice message small talk or "call me back" it's somewhat intimate, maybe slightly embarrasing admissions about your mental state, or something. It's kinda creepy.
There are only two more songs that need vocals. I hope I can do them justice. I also seem to have developed a wicked sore throat.
I've pondered and planned and worried about this album for so long that I'm a little scared that in the end it'll just be another collection of electronic blips on disc. There's a feeling we're going for, something hungry and unrestrained, and you can get a little buried under the nuts and bolts of it all, putting it all together, so I'm not really sure if it's gonna come out as we intended. But I do have faith, I do. And it's been really fun and exciting and invigorating and exhausting and frustrating all at the same time. Like all the best things I suppose.
I caught a documentary about Johnny Cash on TV late Friday night. It was mostly Johnny and June Carter driving around the south in an RV in like '69 or something, playing shows from prison to prison. It's funny, cuz we're making a big, loud rock record and for the last week all I've been listening to is Johnny Cash and Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan, all much more organic, stripped-down music. Anyway, Cash seemed so at home in his persona, so at ease in performance, it was amazing just to watch him roll out that rich voice so casually, like it ain't no thing at all. And then I'm sitting around yesterday, hungover and tired and here's The Man In Black singing for a Comfort Inn commercial and the guy in the ad is showing a series of placards with cities written on them, an obvious take on Dylan in the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" segment of Don't Look Back, and I'm thinking, ok we're really through the rabbit hole here, nothing even matters anymore. The fourth dimension has already been discovered.
Of Terror Threats & Tenor Sax
What a strange thing, to be riding the train and catching the glances of the people sitting around you, trying to be nonchalant when really the thought is crossing everybody's mind - are these the people I'm going to die with?
I don't pay much mind to threat announcements - what's the point? It's not like there's anything that could be done to bolster your chances of survival, aside, I suppose, from staying at home behind locked doors. Everything hinges on the pure, random convergence of chance.
In any case, in about 12 hours I will be in a studio deep below the streets of Williamsburg, singing songs that I wrote and convincing myself that it means something.
Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to it. It's all I've got and all I want.
As for right now, I've got a case of fatigue and heartache, but there's a Maker's Mark within grasp and Sam Cooke is on the stereo.
To end on a note of optimism, dangerous optimism, if things continue at the pace they have been, it's probable that the record, the much vaunted Kinetic Album #1 blah blah blah, will be printed, packaged and ready for purchase by the end of November.
I'll be just holding on until then...
October Nights
After a few sessions of hollerin' on the rawk songs, we took a bit of a detour tonite, focusing on some mellower fare. Final vocal takes on As Old As We Are and Simple Questions were laid down with relative ease. As Old As We Are is probably the simplest tune on the record, so it didn't take long to put some guitar overdubs down and come out with a pretty much finished product. It sounds nice. Sweet.
I wish we could've worked more on Simple Questions (I hate this title, by the way, and may change it) but it was late and the guitar part it needs is from my original 4-track demo (from around 2001 if you can believe it) and I need to consult the original. It's a good part and I certainly couldn't think up anything better now, so gotta make sure to get it right. Part of me is sad the original, scrappy demo version can't go on the album. There's a nice spontaneity and spaciness to it that could never be reproduced in the studio. Oh well, save it for the boxed set, ha ha.
I've found that I'm not that interested in listening to other music while we've been recording. I mostly just listen to our stuff, looking out for fuck-ups and plotting arrangement ideas. I wonder what other people do. Maybe they try to avoid listening to outside stuff so as not to be unduly influenced. I doubt it has too much of an impact anyway. We listen to so much music, and have for so long, that it's all in the bloodstream, part of our chemical makeup. For no other reason than posterity, here's some of the stuff I've had in rotation...
Twilight Singers "She Loves You" - I love Greg Dulli and he's a good inspiration for the rawkus numbers.
Bloc Party "Silent Alarm" - despite the hype, I really like this album, and it's got great energy throughout, a good way to pump yourself up.
Boards of Canada "Geogaddi" - just a great record.
I am very tired and need to sleep.
