9.27.2011

colin is a pussy, a very pretty pussycat

if im ever at someone's house and they have itunes up and running it always interests me to see what their most played songs are. i guess it says a lot about someone. i have had my current ipod for about a year and a half, and as of today, these are the songs ive listened to most over the past 18 months:

1. Future of the Left - Manchasm
2. Leonard Cohen - Leaving Green Sleeves
3. Murder By Death - Good Morning, Magpye
4. The New Trust - The Suffering of Fools
5. Leonard Cohen - A Singer Must Die
6. The Gaslight Anthem - Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
7. Cursive - Tides Rush In
8. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jesus of the Moon
9. Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
10. Morrissey - You Have Killed Me

if anyone out there hasnt seen or heard future of the left, do it now.


[christopher]

9.21.2011

goodbye donuts (hey, statue of liberty)

so most people will have noticed the message on the front page giving a release date of october 22nd for the new record.
hooo yah we are excited about it - NEVERCREW have done an amazing job with the artwork (the current image is just a teaser, the main picture will be revealed later!) and it was great to record it all in 2 days in analogue in a funky little place out in the middle of nowhere. it is the first music we have recorded without takashi (although 'we that remain' was recorded in april, we brought him in to help play percussion!), so the guitar sound is quite different, but we are very pleased with the result.

you see that we have called it an album, but maybe mini-album is more appropriate. more than an EP, not quite an an LP. i was thinking about this a wee while ago, because 30 years ago albums needed to be approximately 45 minutes so that they would fit onto two sides of an LP. if you went over that time, you needed to make it a double-album.
then the CD came along, and suddenly you could make an album 60, 70 minutes long, and a lot of bands did.
sometimes this was a great thing - there are some fantastic albums hitting 70 minutes in length, but unfortunately there are also a lot of records than contain two or three good songs, and a bit of filler just to get it up to the 60 minute mark (im sure some people might say the same about our first album)

now we live in an age where people dont buy CDs or vinyl records (much) anymore, and albums can be as long as one wishes. and i think the listening mentality has changed a little.
i remember getting albums when i was in high school, putting on the CD and listening to it start to finish while following the lyrics in the booklet. i dont think people do that much anymore. nowadays everything is on digital devices, and very often on a random mix with whatever other music is on there.

so, we wanted to put out something with the songs that we have enjoyed playing in practice and those which work best with the sound we are making at our gigs recently. we were thinking about doing a double album this time, but instead cut it right down to more than an EP, not quite an LP. a simple half hour of music.
which is great for me, because that is exactly how long my commute to work is.


[christopher]

9.13.2011

in malaysia

enjoying some sun and seafood and sand and sunburn
on the plane listening to the new rhcp record/// i do like josh klinghoffer
but anthony still has some rubbish lyrics.
dance dance dance might be the worst song i have heard this year
but ethiopia and maggie are both very good
chad plays a cowbell!
i told you, ken! cowbells are cool!!
last month we recorded a song with cowbell, oh yes, there WILL be cowbell on the next icon girl pistols record
i get back sunday morning. sunday evening we rock the nob with the planets and the mootekkis.
hahaaaaaaa yes.