Generally, as we get close to recording, I pull together quite a lot of gear in order to have as many tonal options as possible. Joe lent me his Tore-Vibe tube reverb & tremolo unit in case I want some of those sweet California sounds.
Actually, it’s sounding a bit sickly and I’m hoping to revive it a bit. Probably just needs new tubes, since I cracked it open and the inside is really immaculate–looks like it did the day Joe built it.

Steve here.

While we’re working on sorting out our recording arrangement (meaning, the location and situation in which we’ll finally make this album), we’ve been doing as much pre-recording as we can.

Today: guitar parts for “In My New Language.”

dear reader,

tomorrow, christmas will be only one week away. (unfortunately, i believe i’ve already missed the one-week mark for hanukkah, which was monday, no? although, if today were the 17th day of kislev, instead of december, i’d be right on the money… .) the solstice will be here even sooner, heralded for me personally by a vague recognition that i haven’t really seen the sun for A Long Time.

and in the category of Feels Like Christmas To Steve, we’ve got snow on the ground here in nj, a couple of nice little fake trees (that our cats insist on eating anyway) lit up in our apartment, and those red holiday cups at starbucks.

what could possibly be missing, you ask? how about a good night, states christmas song! i am not making this up!

in the fall we promised three more internet singles. after the halloween release, “the odd and the even,” our songwriting and recording schedule got a little difficult, so although you’ve seen photos of recording “if i can,” you haven’t heard the song yet. joe and i are still working pretty hard on that one, but we hope to get it to you by the close of 2008.

in the meantime–last weekend, to be specific–we did what any band in our position (one song in the works and one to go!) would do: set up at the hardings’ and recorded something very special for everybody who’s helped to make this a very special year for us.

there are sleigh bells, there’s a glockenspiel, and there is very much the sound of folks singing in the living room. so download the song tomorrow (it will be free! no excuses!), put it on in your living room, pour a glass of eggnog to go with your cookies (and maybe some silk nog for me if i’m lucky) and pretend we’re all together.

merry christmas to you.

dear reader,

happy monday. that’s not necessarily said sardonically, i should note; i’m looking forward to this week for two reasons:

1. the october SAT is this saturday. that means if i can just get through this week (and get my clients through this week with their nerves intact), i will have some very slight respite from insanity. [this is said from the perspective of someone who has worked (either tutoring or playing, and many times both) literally every single day, monday-tuesday-wednesday-thursday-friday-saturday-sunday, for over a month.]

2. we are recording this saturday for the first of three fall internet singles. this song is great. i’m really excited about it. the tentative release date is october 15th, which should carry you through that period between the end of oktoberfest and halloween. speaking of holidays, our plan is to get the other two out for thanksgiving and christmas, because, well, why not. (the real answer is that we hunger and thirst for sleigh bells.)

so that’s me this morning. hope that gives you at least one thing to look forward to as well.

dear reader,

somewhat hilariously, in my last post (one month ago) i stated that i wanted to blog here regularly. where have i been?

of course, the week+ of “rest” i was so looking forward to turned into nearly two weeks of sickness, followed immediately by a frenzy of recording and mixing for “sometimes i see you on the lawn” (have you listened to it yet?), followed immediately thereafter by a frenzy of prep for a summer music program i’m teaching. in fact, my voice cleared up enough to sing “sometimes” literally just in time–the LAST day i had available to track before i needed to begin mixing to get the track out in time.

in short, i apologize.

and that leads nicely into a couple of informal announcements:

1. there’s a new track today, “moonlight.”

2. it’s the last internet release until sometime in the fall.

we’re not 100% on when exactly we’ll start up again with the once-a-month singles. joe and i are going to be finishing “in the impossible tension” on our own time here in nj, but we won’t be releasing the last two tracks individually. all i’ll say is that there’ll be no august releases (except maybe a physical copy of “in the impossible tension,” MAYBE), and probably no september ones either.

don’t cry, tickles. it’s good! i’m sure you all have been postponing your vacations for fear of getting behind in this relentless listening march to the proverbial sea, so… here you go. take that cruise. go visit your family.

in any event, watch for announcements on that.

truth is, we’ve had a pretty great (albeit busy) june and 1st half of july, what with the big summer festival show a few weeks ago, some more glowing reviews of that set and “short films on self-control,” “not come around” getting some play on wyep in addition to “killer of the one,” and a feeling of some renewed drive for playing a bunch more shows. i’m really hoping we can take breathers here and there to enjoy what IS going on, and balance a bit in our hearts the drive to make more happen.

well… i’ve got to get to school. but it’s good to see you again, reader.