dear reader,

feels like the home stretch here. i sat here mixing for so long yesterday i don’t even want to do the math. on saturday, two very good friends are getting married (to each other, no less!), and i’ve got quite a bit more preparation to do for the pieces i’ll be playing.

but let me just celebrate for a moment with you. i’m really happy with “good times, so wearily desired!,” and i sincerely hope you’ll give it a listen (the in the impossible tension tracks have been moved in the player and are after the short films songs. you can do it. you can find it).

it turns out that working on songs very quickly goes a long way towards precluding the crafting of messages i usually try to do as a songwriter. this track, consequently, is maybe a bit more candid in some ways than most. granted, allyson still doesn’t know what it’s about, but she did say, “does it have something to do with proust?,” which is really pretty insightful/awesome. [earlier versions of the lyrics actually included proust AND his madeleine (!), but it just sounded too weird. (raise your hand if you have no idea what i’m talking about.)]

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A LONG, PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLANATION OF THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH WITH LITERARY REFERENCES. IF YOUR FACE BEGINS TO HURT OR YOU ARE PREGNANT, SKIP IT.
the story runs thus: i had come across the original english title of marcel proust’s famous work, which i believe is remembrance of things past. it struck me because, although sort of pretty, it doesn’t have the strength or provocation of in search of lost time, which is more of a translation of the french title (i think there’s a later english version with that name). naturally, any confusion/comments/complaints/suggestions in the gretz household regarding proust are directly put to our resident proust expert, allyson. come to think of it, she’s the only expert on the subject i know–resident or otherwise.
the significant part of this is really the conversation that allyson and i had about proust’s re-experiencing of the past, and the questions it naturally raised for me. is it possible to remember ANYTHING factually, without re-interpreting the experience? can one even trust his memory, consequently? the more personal counterpoint is that nearly all memory has a sort of negative emotional screen for me, which is probably why i emphasize the interpretational aspect of “memory.”
END WARNING.

so, “good times, so wearily desired!” is a song that shares my experience of and outlook on memory, or at least part of it. the lyrics should be up pretty soon. you should probably disagree with what the songs says, ultimately, but you should also bop along to the consumer electronics of yesteryear.

oh, yeah, the celebration. i kinda got sidetracked there. well, i gotta go, but YOU should have a beer.

happy 15th.

Google is this band’s weapon of choice. For example, if it weren’t for Gmail’s ability to track email ‘conversations’ and the fact that all 5 members have Gmail accounts, we would probably have a lot more interpersonal issues than we do right now. We also utilize the calendar for scheduling (conflicts) and we share nice spreadsheets of where we want to send press releases to, so that everyone can contribute. It really is a life-saver.

In addition to the aforementioned services that The Google offers, we utilize one other secret, secret weapon: Google Analytics. With Google Analytics, you are able to track hits and other stats for your website. One of my favorite features lets you see the search strings that people used that lead them to your site.

So, to blatantly steal and idea from PittGirl and Land of Yajeev, I’m going to list my top 5 search strings to date (by number of hits). Here they are… (more…)

“this is a new word to me, near-fields.”

dear reader (hello! i haven’t posted in over a month),

my mind is filled with many such quotations (generally deadpanned in a thoroughly french syntax) from my wife, certainly because i love her but also because they’re funny. (”are you going to read me nietzsche?”)

of course, this opener is related to the sudden infestation of monitoring equipment in our tiny apartment, which my aforementioned wife has accepted graciously and with humor. (”do you like the new speakers?” “yes, they’re bumblebee-ish.” it sounds like lines from a foreign language textbook. welcome to our home.)

i’ve been struggling to write this post for several days now, but actually i think this is probably the best moment. last wednesday night joe and i left late and arrived in pgh at 2 am to begin recording on thursday morning. st. david’s in the south hills lent us their unsuspecting and conveniently vacant rectory, and we transformed it thursday into a little studio. (watch the photos page for a nice series on this.) we managed to track one whole song while we were there, wrapping up on saturday with a little extra keyboard work by megan.

since i’ve been back, it’s been All About the Mixing. this is scary because a) i’ve never mixed anything totally by myself before and b) my inner recording workaholic is brutal. having survived two days of it so far, though, i can report that everything is great. the tracking, it turns out, was wonderful despite the sprint. drums are tight. vocals sound great. the song is really gaining a life of its own now that it’s fixed in a tangible medium (little shout-out to copyright law!), and that’s what you hope for as a recording artist: that certain intangible extra.

it’s actually so great here behind the ‘phones that i can’t wait to record the next one. you can call this a soft announcement: good night, states is going to be releasing several tracks this spring, and i couldn’t be more excited.

watch the news page for a real announcement about the release of this single, “long coats, no energy.”

love from rainy montvale,
steve

ps. does ANYONE know how to make quicktime my default music player? stupid apple.

Doesn’t a new year always seem to hum with possibility and fresh starts? For us here at Good Night, States, it sure does.

Today we rejoice in our first press ever about Short Films on Self-Control and it floods me with a wave of excitement second only to the joy I felt upon surviving my first week of recording back in March of 2007. I haven’t posted since then, but because a new year brings new chances to succeed, I hope to be writing much more in the coming days. Blogging! Success! New albums! Fresh starts! This is 2008!!!

Also, Trevor hopes that 2008 is the year in which I learn the discipline of putting my dirty clothing in the appropriate hamper compartment. But some things take more than a flip of the calendar to overcome.

So, for our first post of 2008, we bring you someone else’s post. Please check out the good folks at Rusty Bridge blog . If you know our drummer’s obsession with robots, you will understand how important it is that these robot-loving people have become Good Night, States-loving people.

And if you have a blog about indie music, fresh starts, pop culture, robots, or laundry organization, don’t hesitate to email me (press at goodnightstates dot com.) We’d love to read about our music on your blog.

Joyous New Year, friends!