In a sudden fit of completionism, I resolved to finish the Chronicity recordings too; so that both discs could be handed over to Pete at the same time. Employing what I had learnt from Pilgrim, Wimpshake and the Rui demos, I was able to cut versions that sounded even more solid than before. Hopefully the group will be able to release the songs in some format or another next year.
On Saturday 10th October, Ex Libris achieved its ultimate dream: to DJ at PopKlubb. Rather optimistically I turned up with my Kaoss Pad in tow, expected to sample and bit crush my way through the set… but their equipment was unable to accept such equipment. The night began quietly, but the room filled to its usual busy self during our hour on the decks, and playing Modeselektor and Grilly to a bunch of unsuspecting indie geeks was too good for words. If only all dreams could be so easily realised as this one; I was very, very happy and got to finish the set with John Peel’s shout out he gave me on Radio 1 the night before my dissertation was due, when he played the Kreutzfeld Nausflauten Orkestra. Fitting, considering it was the anniversary of his death.
Key: red - Luke, black - Andrew
Vaselines - You think your a man, you are only a boy [album]
Outdoor Miner - Wire
CSS - Lets make love and listen to death from above
That 80s Vibe - Assfunk vs DJ IBM PC COMPATIBLE*
Moldy Peaches - track 5 - Downloading Porn With Davo
I 'Aint Thick - Jeffery Lewis / Crass
FYC - Suspicious Minds
Dark Side Of The Sun (feat. Debutonner) - Modeselektor
The organ - Memorize the city
The Beach - Milky Wimpshake / Jonathan Richman*
Roxy Music - Dance Away
Filmstar - Suede
Strangelove - Track 4 (20th century gold)
Klein Bottle Fish Tank - Grilly
chuck berry - Roll Over Beethoven
Star Wars Main Theme (disco rmx) - Mecco
Hefner - Live at the John Peel Wingding - The Day The Thatcher Dies
Teenage Slave - Girls Girls Girls
The Cure - The Catapiller
Louie Louie - Krautzfeldt Nausflauten Orkestra (w/introduction by John Peel)
More practicing with Death and Attorney, more guitar overdubs with Rui – this time extensively employing the Kaoss Pad to twist everything James was playing into something even more unusual. More mixing of Phil & Cath Tyler’s material, with a perfectionist Phil stopping by on the 13th to add more finishing touches to various songs, and insist on a particular guitar EQ and compression combination which he wanted applied to all the songs, rather than just a couple. More work on Nathalie’s album too… many days spent indoors, wearing the clothes that I had been wearing all week, leaving the house only to get milk or rehearse, drinking obscene amounts of coffee, and sweating down arrangements and EQ-ing layer after layer to get everything sounding just so: not the sort of stuff that makes interesting blogging, especially since the proof should be in the listening rather than the writing.
The Girls arrived on Friday 16th to begin recording their new EP, thus christening the new rehearsal space with its first studio work. All in all the session went well: they tracked four songs and one demo in a day, with keys and percussion being added later in the evening, and vocals and guitar overdubs being done on the Sunday. They seemed enthusiastic enough about how things went to warrant a return in the new year to lay down more songs for their third album. It was good to get the guys playing and recording live again; the stuff they’ve done so far is miles more energetic than anything on Stop or Songs. A step ladder was employed for added percussion on O’Pathological Life, and Andy laid down some sick trumpet on Record Label.
Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th spent putting the finishing touches to Nathalie’s work; some of the tracks have benefited from mastering, others have lost a little air, so it was just a case of picking the best bounces and making the final sequence flow. I had Nathalie pause the machine after each song when she felt ready for the next one to come in, and then dragged the wav to that exact location. A real buzz to finish this particular record so quickly and cleanly; proof that the artist is also a project manager when she isn’t mucking around with loop pedals… I’m very happy with the album, and intend to give a copy of Firetales to my relatives come Christmas, as I think it’s the most accessible thing I’ve worked on this year.
On Monday 26th Pete signed off the Wimpshake and Chronicity records, bringing the total number of projects I’ve finished this year to four albums and three EPs, with five more albums and one EP on the slate in various stages of completion. Much of the rest of the week was spent battling with unruly guitar sounds on the Gx3 material.