at least i lost my voice at exactly the right time
everyone should listen to the Arab Strap live album..... oh and Radio Dept. they're from Sweden.
we mixed this past week, at least roughly, and it was tough going. expecially when you spend an hour-and-a-half recording a maraca part that doesn't make the cut. this record will be a long haul, a slog-through at times, but its a labor of love and will come out all the better for the energy expended.
i'm having trouble with my vocal parts. not in getting them down, that's been relatively easy (thank mogwai), and its become apparent how much better a singer i am than i was 2 years ago (well i should hope so!), but the difficulty arises in getting the right
feel for the parts. and these songs have a lot of emotional digressions and flips and swerves, sometimes just between verses, its hard to get a grip. i dont want to sing them like a singer, if that makes sense. they more need to sound like someone singing in your ear late at night as you fall asleep and it becomes half-dream, half-reality. well, then at other times i have to scream my head off like a fucking idiot.
so far i think the second verse of
all the things you thought were true is the finest piece of singing i've ever recorded, but crucial parts of
black & blue and
bare bones remain lacking.
you can hear a tentative mix of
black & blue at our
Myspace page. here's the lyrics, maybe they'll make it clear why its such a hard song to sing.........
.........you look so good when you sweat; cool blade across your neck. you couldn't wait for it. i want you on your knees. i'll make you do as i please - don't you dare say a word. you'll cut off all your hair. and scrub your face to bone, but you can never wash me away. now i am a part of you. we're tied together until we die.
...........
rain
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
know its raining but come see us tonite at
Union Hall. we're good rainy day music (i think?) and the bathrooms there are really good for
making out/doing coke/banging a total stranger. what more do you want? seriously, what the fuck more could you ask for?? you fucking leeches! you bastards!!
you're not me. or wait, are you? am i? how am i not myself?
i'll get you Adam We.............................................
clonazepam, hydrocodone, soma, alcohol
sometimes that's what it takes.
two really good sessions this past week. last Friday saw All the Things You Thought Were True morph from my least favorite song into some twisted Smiths/bossa nova/shoegaze epic. people will either really like it or be like, what the fuck. i really like it.
after having my wisdom tooth removed, singing was out of the question until last night, but it went well, the aforementioned All the Things.. and Black & Blue getting vocals laid down (on my part at least, Colombo does harmonies tonite - i have to work).
i'm still not sure about the end part of Black & Blue. its difficult to get up alone in front of a mic out of the context of a loud live show and scream your head off. on-key no less. at this point i don't think it sounds desparate enough. maybe i took too many pills.
our friend Victoria is filming us over the course of the recording process for a sort of mini-documentary about what it means to be a band no one cares about sinking a bunch of money into a record that's very dear to us but which surely almost no one will hear. i guess. in any case it's been fun having her around, it adds another dimension to recording. which is mostly just us drinking beer and saying stupid shit. not very "serious artist" at all. but that's how it is, in reality.
i'm very happy with how things sound so far and i'm trying to adopt a "give a fuck" blinders-on attitude. we're just gonna make this record, and if we're happy with it, then thats what matters.
and in the spare time, it's summer, so i'm gonna get fucked up and fall in love.
cheers,
brendan
