S*T*U*F*F* Reloaded

Quoth Foy Vance - “…if anything is playing in heaven, this is it. In fact, if its not this, I’m not going…”

What a nice phone call to get last night!! Foy called up on hearing a mix of “Stars And Satellites”, the final track on the record, which we’ve just finished recording and are mixing this week. (He called back 20 minutes later to say “Wait a minute - I’m not on this record anywhere, am I?” which ended up with us agreeing on an evening next week where we will drink a 2004 Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges and record Foy ripping up some guest vocals on “Time Once a Friend”.)

Its more or less an instrumental piece, but there are some vocals singing a repeating line. I had the good fortune to avail the lovely voice of Joanne Vance, which added a layer of beauty to the whole thing. Alan van Kleef came downstairs in his dressing gown yesterday bearing a rough mix on CD - he’d been up late after we’d enjoyed a glass of Armagnac on Sunday, putting it together.

So there you go - nearly finished now… on target for the 08.08.08 release.

I’m doing some stuff for Apple later this year - they want to use my track “Happytown” for some Logic Studio demo content in a programme they are rolling out across the UK… so I have to re-record it using only Logic Studio and a guitar - no amp, no vintage synths… the irony is that so far it all sounds better than the original, and I’m really enjoying the process of having to dig into the plug-ins to try and recreate certain elements. I do have to say that interface design is a long way from where it should be for music plug-ins… they are so cluttered and uninviting its hard to believe. In particular, there is a great little synth in Logic called “Sculpture”, but its so crammed with stuff, its almost impossible to see what you’re doing. Shame, as its fantastic and quite easy to create random and morphing sounds, which I always like.

OK - more tea.

If you’re after some cool pop music, then check out Sadpaw which has been on my car stereo for weeks now. You should check it out for no other reason than the explanation Phil Wilkinson (aka Sadpaw) gives for making the album… “I wanted to make an unashamed pop record that was also a bit wrong. Like someone giving you grapes at a disco.” I always knew Phil as a drummer, but I think I got it a bit wrong… he’s an awesome force, along with his brother Paul, who right this very moment is producing Duke Special’s new record up in our studio. Man, all these talented folk with beautiful songs just hiding under rocks when there’s so much unmitigated shite floating around.