Delusions in 7/8

Entropy / Khmer Rouge

2009-04-21T07:13:00.000-04:00

Saint-Just

2009-04-06T00:11:00.002-04:00

One Last Time, With Feeling

2008-10-03T13:39:00.004-04:00

One Last Time, With Feeling

2008-10-03T13:39:00.000-04:00

I Was So Much Older Then, I'm Younger Than That Now

2008-05-16T12:56:00.002-04:00

well well well. our first 3 songs from An Army of Lovers Can Be Beaten have been mastered and are up on our Myspace. there's still a lot of work to be done but we're getting there. last time in the studio did a solo run-through of Billy, a kind-of old tune, kind-of atypical for us but i like the lyrics and it offers a nice changeup in the running order. layered some warped drone Casio, piano and a couple vocals and it was pretty much done. then puffed up Light Makes Shadows with choral harmonies and backwards piano and it sounds lovely. just need to drum up some more $$$ and we can get back to mixing and tracking the last 2 songs, which have finally taken shape in rehearsal. money money money, why are you so hard to come by? no shows for a while, not until June 13 at Lit, but we'll keep you posted.

brendan.

Keep On Freeing In The Rock World

2008-02-13T15:45:00.002-05:00

Keep on Rockin' In The Free World

2008-02-13T15:33:00.003-05:00

But this is why i love him

2007-10-31T00:46:00.000-04:00

This could be heaven
Shallow spreads of ordered lawns
I like the illusion
Illusion of privacy
The careful trees blending so perfectly
Bland planned idle luxury
A caviar of silent dignity
Life in lovely allotted slots
A token nice
A nice constitution
A layered mass of subtle props
This could be heaven
Mild mannered mews
Well intentioned rules
To dignify a daily code
Lawful order standard views
This could be heaven

No Birds,: Public Image Ltd.

anarchy in the same old way

2007-10-31T00:37:00.000-04:00

i just watched the Sex Pistols perform Anarchy in the UK on Leno. it was alright i suppose, but nothing better than a good pub band could do. and it is a bit depressing to see John Lydon so bloated and old now. he still has an undeniable charisma though, even if you can tell he really could give a shit about the lyrics or song anymore.

it bores me to even try to formulate a moaning "oh my god punk used to mean something" rant - what a cliche anyway - but i'm sure plenty of people will do so on their blogs and myspaces and other useless mediums of "communication" tonite/tomorrow.

as for me, i just put on Aphex Twin.

tonite i did vocals and guitars on our new version of Electrocute. it is just like the olld boss but better than the old boss. trust me. took about 3 hours. not that i'm bragging or nothing.

had a sloppy, drunken but fun rehearsal afterwards. gotta work off the studio pizza somehow. played YourBlood... for prob lilke 12 minutes. seemed like an hour. troubling thing is i think a lot of it was quite good

i need a Halloween costume. i was John Lydon on Saturday. maybe the Pistols being on tonite was a sign i should repeat.

maybe this is a total drag.

cybernetic psychosexual stimulation

2007-10-29T12:50:00.000-04:00

HOUSE PARTY

2007-10-18T13:47:00.000-04:00

Best words of the day, re: Radiohead

2007-10-12T11:43:00.000-04:00

Is it just me, does anyone really like the fact that this way of releasing an album makes the whole listening experience much more communal and egalitarian?

We've got no reviews from elite publications to go on, and at this point early in the game everyone's take on the album matters and is interesting to read. I don't know if releasing it the traditional method would've garnered such a lively discussion.

Anyway, today is a great day for music lovers and people who like talking about music.
Posted by: Chris D. at October 10, 2007 10:22 AM

via Stereogum

these fuckers, i love them so. really revved up the inspiration for our own trifling little record......

Oct 9 2007

2007-10-10T23:53:00.000-04:00

a Tues of mixed emotions and many highs and lows. but a fruitful studio session produced 2 nearly-complete songs, with vocals and overdubs and effects and the like. it was found that my vocal take on Light Makes Shadows from the previous week was perhaps a little too inebriated, but it was also discovered that doubling that take with a very whispery, close-mic'd performance made it something approaching sublime. so goes the studio learning curve. Colombo added a beautiful off-the-cuff backwards guitar part that totally gave the 2nd verse a lift like you wouldn't believe. it was spine-tingling. this is why i enjoy being in a band w/ geniuses.

i'd love to share the (almost) completed song with you, but its not quite there. we need some secrets in this life right?

into the new Radiohead yet? i love it. definitely their best since Kid A....

we've got shows galore coming, the first this Saturday, late at night in Williamsburg. come one babies, stay up late and have a roar with us, we'll give you kisses and champagne and the blood from my fingernails.

love,
brendan

singer sings a song

2007-10-03T13:09:00.001-04:00

studio. late night Tuesday. sing singin' away. took a while but it workd/i think/..... finished Your Blood On My Hands laying on my back staring at the ceiling. god bless the Silver Bullet mic/echo/.reverb/distortion. means i can actually listen to myself without cringing. or maybe the cringe-inducing moments are the most "real"? all of this effort is crafting artifice anyway, its just a matter of merging the honest and the artificial in a meaningful way. sense? you gotta be there 'spose.

i am missing many things today. and they are so far away....

but somethings grow nearer. i have to believe that.

b

someday you will remember, and you will know, i promise.

2007-09-25T23:50:00.000-04:00

sorry for the delay in studio blogging. that weekend was nuts, with the Deli show and 2 studio days, and i personally was distracted, most majestically, by a certain Danish visitor...........................

songs tracked, 9/15-9/16 = Light Makes Shadows and Your Blood On My Hands. all live, in full takes, with no click track, no computer splicing, just playing the songs through until we hit it. took about 5-6 performances of each but we got 'em down good, particularly Your Blood, whose coda is probably the most psychedelic thing we've ever done.

these are looser, jammier songs, and thus lend themselves to sonic experimentation and general fucking-with, so really looking forward to that. we've got studio time booked every Tuesday in October, so its a good chunk of work coming up to get this shit into some sort of shape.

i came into this, as i usually do, with an obssessive personal overview of what direction and form the record should take, based on the songs and lyrics i had written and the general theme i was expounding on. since recording began however, i'm slowly letting go of these preconceptions and just allowing it to become what it will, based on circumstance and experimentation and more generally just seeing what works and what doesn't, and not being afraid to jettison ideas previously held to be sacrosanct in the interest of bettering the song/recording. and i listened to the 6 rough mixes i have on my iPod today and feel that this process is bearing fruit. i'm trying to be patient but i really just want to work and work and work.

the whole CMJ farce temporarily got me down about the bullshit and politics that go into ever having your music heard, and made me wonder about our chances of finding an audience, but then i realized that i just don't care. when we are in the practice space or in the studio, we just do whatever we want, and i hope we never abandon that way of doing things. and if "success" comes, in whatever meager form, i'll be glad, but for now i've got the blinders on and the songs to be worked on and a voice to take care of and a love to nurture and a guitar to mend and mind to tame and exhaustion to fight off and the long slow crawl back towards constructing a meaningful life.

so, i suppose in that context, the answer, to quote a certain little-known totally obscure singer-songwriter "oh well whatever nevermind."

do what you believe in and fuck everything else.

as for me, i'm content tonight with red wine, The Great Gatsby and memories of a lovely girl in my head...................

tomorrow?

"My men can eat their belts, but my tanks need gas."

2007-09-11T14:51:00.000-04:00

I have spent the morning/afternoon eating bad pre-packaged sushi and flipping between Military Channel shows on WWII and VH1's Most Shocking Moments of Lindsay Lohan. I feel this duo sums something up about humanity/reality/commodity but cannot find the exact way to express the idea, or even give it concrete shape.

We are returning to the studio this weekend, and to be honest, I'm not sure we're ready. Various scheduling conflicts have limited our rehearsal time to far less than I'd like, and I'm feeling terrible and un-motivated, locked once again in a bleak fog.

Songs in consideration for the weekend include Light Makes Shadows, Your Blood On My Hands, Streets Keep Quiet and Never Let Me Go. Ok, so we've still not solved the middle-eight riddle of Streets though I have a new idea that I think might work, and we haven't played Never Let Me Go in ages and is it maybe too similar-but-less-interesting than Your Blood?......but the lyrics I really like and feel fit the record's themes really well and do we have enough time to even work this all out and we're playing Sat night and i'm DJing afterward but i have to work at 8AM and then go back into the studio and i'm runnin out of pills and drinking too much and either sleeping forever or not sleeping at all and is there any reason not to just say fuck it fuck it fuck it?

i don't know. you tell me.

i think the sushi was bad. i feel ill.

or maybe its the show about seriall killers. they're rating "who is the most evil." are you kidding?

it occurs to me that the serial killer may be, rather than a deviant, the exact fulfillment of our cultural id, inseparable from whatever identity our culture may have.

art or terror: this is the choice.

i'm still on the fence.

2007-09-04T12:45:00.000-04:00

at least i lost my voice at exactly the right time

2007-08-22T15:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-21T11:51:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-03T15:34:00.000-04:00

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

An Army of Lovers Can Be Beaten

2007-07-20T23:39:00.000-04:00

i could say i love you but i'd never mean it. all the wasted words. all the wasted paper. sharp colors in hi-definition, disaster and delerium. delerium tremens. have you ever seen a woman on a city street clothed in only a black garbage bag? you call all go to hell. but i'd love you anyway. let's throw it all away and make love in the woods.

An Army of Lovers Can Be Beaten

2007-07-20T23:24:00.001-04:00

i swallow pills with wine. all the glass you can eat. never shot a gun but would love to. inside inside all the time all the time. you'll never crack the code. the battles are over you're just fighting yourself. and i bet you're so pretty and hip and together. and in the end all i can say is that i can't sleep.

Free Phil Spector

2007-07-20T11:48:00.000-04:00

2007-07-16T13:28:00.000-04:00

2006-04-02T23:37:00.000-04:00

Oh Pittsburgh!

2006-04-02T23:31:00.000-04:00

Travelling and the venue in Penn Hills

Deep Breath Now

2005-12-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

For myself and only myself....
never forget to remember to not expect anyone to care.

we're halfway there and thank Dog for that. slipping deeper into debt and heart murmurs. but it's starting to make sense now. you get so lost in the middle, the paralysis of choice mixed with the constraint of time and money. we've put a lot of thought and effort and love and pain into this. i hope it shows. i think it's turning into what i wanted it to be, hoped it to be, and for that I'm thankful, i'll take the sleepless nights and the panic disaster and the sore throats and the bloody fingers.

soon enough the particles will unite in valence bliss, and then it's time to collect more dust and push it out, gently, through pursed lips and soothing breath, out into the bright expanse of our tiny pocket of the universe.

we hope you will join us on the trip.

much love...

Caught In A Vortex

2005-11-10T10:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was shitty until a spot-on, savage rehearsal and a bright, shiny mix of As Old As We Are lifted our spirits. We are incredibly excited to be playing live again soon. Mixing is fun when everything starts to come together and what was once a collection of disparate parts becomes a bona fide song, but the process itself is arduous and disorienting. I felt well and truly skull-fucked after leaving the studio at midnight. It's probably for the better that mixing will be spread out over a month or so - doing this every day would drive me completely insane.

Looking forward to some old-fashioned warts n' all rock n' roll performances:

Thursday November 17 at Galapagos, 9PM, FREE

Wednesday November 23 at Scenic, 12PM, FREE

Not said anything for a while...

2005-11-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

... but work continues. We begin mixing in earnest next week, and then it's the mad dash for the finish in the final stetch, miscellaneous-sports-metaphor-insert-here.

Check out myspace.com/kineticnyc to hear some provisional fruits of labor.

Happiness is a warm gun

2005-10-18T10:30:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-17T00:08:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-10T10:57:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-08T00:00:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-03T23:54:00.000-04:00

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.

i hate the sound of my voice too......

2005-09-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

...but that didn't stop me from attempting some stacked harmonies on "electrocute" a la Queen...needless to say it didn't turn out quite right, I guess we're just not an arena rock band...was fun nonetheless. I did harmonies on "Incandescent" too and tried a part on "a scene unseen" that was too high for my range...but we may get a secret special guest to do it instead...

Pete has been been patient and thoughtful in his production while also being sure to let me in on some of his recording techniques and answer any questions I have. This is fuckin sweet as I have never had the chance to pick a producer's brain about such matters.

As the songs coalesce I get more excited. As I type Brendan's laying down some dope-as-shit-ass-kickin lead guitar parts through a ginormous amp. A nice change...the lines Brendan and I respectively listened to the most during the comping process were "I hate myself" and "bored and lonely"...oy.

You can comp with this, or you can comp with that

2005-09-28T20:48:00.000-04:00

"Vocal comping" is a painstaking, somewhat maddening process that can be like tunneling thru a rabbit hole of your innermost insecurities. Most people do not like the sound of their voice, and I am no exception. So imagine someone has recorded your voice, and not just speaking either, singing words of some import, words that may be slightly embarrasing themselves, and then you must listen to each phrase over and over again, picking out the ones with the most accurate pitch and phrasing, then compiling these disparate phrases into a single "take." I hope that doesn't shatter any illusions about singers and the recording process, but it is the way it is. It can be delerium-inducing but the result is a good, presentable vocal that can stand the test of time, or at least a few minutes. I went under the knife earlier tonite on Saboteur and nearly lost my shit, but we persevered and now Colombo's getting the treatment for his harmony overdubs.
All I wanna do is play guitar. Where did all this singing business enter into it?

That Dylan doc last nite was pretty good, speaking of singers. I doubt they did as much comping back in the day, the technology was just so different (i.e. no computers to make cutting and pasting easy). People say Dylan was no singer but I think he actually has some good pitch, especially on mid-period Highway 61 shit. Listen to From A Buick 6 to hear what I mean. But yeah, I think Scorcese is kind of a tool, but his movie was pretty good. Really though, it's the old footage that makes it cool, so Scorcese doesn't have all that much to do with it. I don't think anyone was fucking cooler than Bob Dylan circa 1965. Just that look he had, like on the cover of Blonde on Blonde, with the big hair and the gaunt cheeks and thousand-mile stare. Sure it was all a consequence of drugs but just as an image it's fucking cool as fuck.

I want to play some fucking guitar man! Come on guys, get yer shit together! :)

wurli wirli wirly whirly

2005-09-27T19:42:00.000-04:00

Dang...more than 24 hours after the last session and I haven't talked to either of my bandmates about said session so I have received my information from the blog like the rest of the fans...most likely this is a result of my reindoctrination into the metropolitan worker bee colony...sacking it early and waking same...but wait! Is that a wurlitzer keyboard lupo's in front of? oh do tell...where are these guys...sitting in my boxers watching the law and order marathon is only fun for so long. I think we're going into the studio tomorrow, my first chance to do some overdubs. yee haw.

Sing it till your throat bleeds

2005-09-26T23:18:00.000-04:00

Another night, another song. Tonight was all about Incandescent and after a few hours of feedback, guitar wrangling and screaming, we have what's shaping up to be a great album opener.

I'm tired and my throat hurts but the songs are turning out so well thus far it's almost frightening. Like, something's just bound to go wrong. We're not this lucky. Pray for us!
In the meantime, a few more pics.

Back in the Saddle

2005-09-25T18:16:00.000-04:00

We've been doing vocals and guitar overdubs today, since about 2 o'clock (shoulda been 1 - thanks G train). No matter, as we speak A Scene Unseen is blaring from the speakers and my oh my what kind of rock n' roll beast have we wrought? Lupo an I are giddy with excitement (Colombo had to work today). As if that wasn't enough, we have a complete mix of Electrocute as well. Vocals were started on Saboteur but my voice gave out, so it shall be saved for another day. Nice guitar leads though.

It's always weird to emerge from the windowless basement studio and find that there is still a world going about its business "on the outside." I feel very conspiratorial, like "oh, if you only knew what we've been cooking up." Or what if the entire planet was obliterated in a nuclear war and we manage to survive because the studio is technically in a bomb shelter and then the only music left would be our record and we'd become the world's only rock n' rollers and everyone would have to love us.

Shit, I've lost my mind. Sara is playing now, it sounds very pretty. And, by someone's good graces, my singing isn't complete crap. Nice.

We're an American band

2005-09-18T21:42:00.000-04:00

"American Dad" is such a disappointment after "Family Guy."
So Day 2 has passed and we have accomplished exactly what we set out to do, live tracking all 10 songs for the album.

Recording finished up when Take 3 of Sara was declared a winner around 7PM. I admit to a certain frustration with the taping of this song, mainly with having to do the live vocal as well as a guitar track at the same time. Pressure on! Maybe it's not "frustration" exactly, more like a kind of enervation, just cuz it's a somewhat emotional song and singing it three times in a row is a bit draining. But the funny thing is, the last vocal take seemed to possess just the right amount of exhaustion to make it effective. These are the nice, unintended things that make recording a treat.

For all y'all A Scene Unseen fans, may I tell you that you will not be disappointed with the final product.

If you're in need of a laugh, Google "Carl Lewis music video." You can thank me later.

Next session will most likely be Thursday.

Until then........

Subteranean sunny days

2005-09-18T20:48:00.000-04:00

The weather today was stunning. It was almost a shame to have to spend the entire day underground. The sacrifice was more than worth it, however. We accomplished all that we set out to do these past two days. The first day came with its requisite set-ups and settings. I attribute the first day's success to hard work and a certain elation at a long-awaiting return to the studio. The second day's success was due to sunshine and a beautiful girl. The combation of the perfect weather and the fleeting smiles of this elegant girl on the subway gave us all the fuel we needed for the day. Personally, I look forward to all the future days of "going to work" both in the studio and outside where there's always a surfeit of pretty girls and sun. Hold on to your hats people, this album's gonna be good.

Choices....

2005-09-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

This take or that take, keep the whole performance or splice it, shrimp pad thai or shrimp pad thai, big muff or swollen pickle distortion...lovely choices to make while the record seems to be rolling along. Things were a bit sticky yesterday but midway through the session Mr. Min decided to A/B Brendan's guitar to give the maximum sonic effect for both distortion and clean sounds...then we were cooking with gas. We wanted a setup that approximated our live rig without sacrificing quality, and we have found it. Coming into the studio today, we decided to redo "incandescent" and "a scene unseen" with marvelous results, 1st take and 2nd take respectfully. Looks like we're on target to get down live tracks for all the tunes by the end of today.

It's back to work to do the lush slow songs that we seldom play at shows but make you all want to nuzzle.

Pics

2005-09-18T01:57:00.000-04:00

It's been a long, long, long... long time

2005-09-17T21:15:00.000-04:00

We have been here for 9+ hours and are going a little bit delirious and squirrel-eyed. Squirrel-eyed? Does that make even the slightest sense?
ANYWAY.... after some troubles in the beginning, we locked in and have accomplished exactly what we hoped to do today.
For those keeping score, the songs tracked today are..................

Incandescent
A Scene Unseen
As Old As We Are
Idiot attorney
Red Curtain
Saboteur

I am exhausted and incredibly happy. and now there's a party to go to.

until tomorrow........

And they're off!

2005-09-17T16:07:00.000-04:00

Recording has begun! I wonder what "non-rock" people think the recording process is like. I can tell you that it can be very much a "hurry up and wait" situation. For example, for a variety of reasons, it is now 4:15, we have been here since noon and have just finished live tracking for the 1st song. It's no problem, as most of the early time is devoted to horribly boring technical things like getting guitar sounds and setting up mics. But once you've got that basic set-up things tend to move rather quickly.

On that note, break time is over. Back to work. Bye bye.

Calamity

2005-09-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

Besides the train laying me up and making me late to pick up my newly set-up bass today (have to be at Rudy's at 10:30 AM tomorrow before we go to the studio. meh), the stars seem to be well-aligned for the start of production on the album. Last night Brendan came home from a killer Arcade Fire show and was beaming with tales of spontaneous dancing and a surprise David Bowie encore appearance. I met him with a tale of my own.

I met Luke Jenner, guitarist from the Rapture, on the subway. At first he thought I was some creep cause I kept looking at him, but we ended up having a very engaging conversation for the length of the subway ride...he put me at ease with his amicability, and actually seemed very glad to talk to me. His band is at the point where they don't need day jobs but live fairly comfortably, which is all we really ask out of this music racket anyway. It was encouraging to meet someone on the other side so to speak, and makes things seem that much more attainable. Of course I still don't feel quite ready going into the studio, but something would be wrong if I did.

I'm off to deliver drumsticks to Lupo for his two-set gig with the Late Bloomers....at least I didn't bust my ass getting to 48th st for nothing. So hopefully Lupo's gig, Brendan's show, and my chance encounter will leave us fully amped for this weekend. We will beat the shit out of these tunes.

-Colombo

Waiting Waiting Waiting

2005-09-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

i am trying to write various things but it is no use.
we are going into the studio on Saturday to begin the big numero uno first full-length album-except-now-you-call-them-CDs. or something.

we are all very excited, even more so after a productive final rehearsal last night, but i wish the day would damn well arrive already. it seems we've been waiting forever. for. ev. ver.

i am anxious because while i believe it is right and proper and important to record this album at this time, i wonder if anyone really cares and if anyone will buy it. best to put the blinders on..... full steam ahead!