Where Shall We Toil? Where Shall We Be Foiled?
Now that post-production of the new TLASILA alb has begun, we're collectively scratchin' our lice-infested noggins regarding touring in '05. Many of the guys have other projects (uh, kinda obvious, that), and everyone's plate is permanently stacked to the rafters. I'm only free in the summer/early autumn, Mark's doing a Sightings trek in May, Rat's frightening the few remaining grandmothers who've not yet been exposed to Hijokaidan with a Squelchers safari in June, and Andrew has perhaps the craziest sked of all. God only knows if we'll ever see Thurston again; Don has a serious NYC day job, and Ben's usually up to his bleached platinum monobrow with film-biz biz in Los Angeles.
Australia/NZ is a promising option (our majordomo Chris is there, jetlagged and shoeless, even as I bleed), as is Scandinavia/Eastern Europe. We haven't hit Canada in nearly a decade (!), and Japan is in our crosshairs as well. The only domestic real estate we're likely to visit this year is in the West, or Southwest, or maybe a combo platter o' both...
Frankly, we're stumped. At least for the moment...
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Oh yeah... Happy Valentine's Day!
Australia/NZ is a promising option (our majordomo Chris is there, jetlagged and shoeless, even as I bleed), as is Scandinavia/Eastern Europe. We haven't hit Canada in nearly a decade (!), and Japan is in our crosshairs as well. The only domestic real estate we're likely to visit this year is in the West, or Southwest, or maybe a combo platter o' both...
Frankly, we're stumped. At least for the moment...
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Oh yeah... Happy Valentine's Day!
Comments
We recorded Gardens of War simultaneously on two formats: cassette four-track (operated by Sightings bassist Richard Hoffman), and 24-bit digital (a direct mic feed into my laptop). Richard's tapes were less faithful, and thus more nuanced. The hard drive stuff sounded too clean, too arid. (Not a sweeping judgment or indictment; it's just what worked best for us, under the circumstances of the sessions.) The decision to use the cassette material was an easy one to make.
I cut the vocal for "Keep Me from Speech" at Rat's studio in Miami Beach, but everything else derived from the Brooklyn basement sessions...
Best,
TS
Of course, I'm pleased that you've enjoyed the album, and continue to dig the fecund basement vibe. (The Basement 5 never "lied," by the way. I was just being contrary.)
I'm no staunch purist, nor am I an advocate for morbid self-deprecation. Balance, baby. I'm about as "avant" as you can get, I suppose, but if you can't listen to others, empathize with others, think critically, crack a half-decent joke, chat up a hot chick, or otherwise get your freak on, all the Stockhausen, Nitsch, Xenakis, Globovar, Cage, and Meuhl in the universe ain't gonna help ya.
Any serious human being packs a full palette. Full-on dour doesn't mean shit.
The real avant-garde is laughing at the guy who said the real avant-garde was smiling...
Yrz,
Lord Ha-Ha