My Top 10

My top 10 of 2009 just got posted to KEXP's blog. Too bad I didn't think to write anything qualifying my picks.

http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/01/16/northwest-artists-pick-their-best-of-2009/

A post of lists.

2009 is over over over.

"The Way We Live" ended up #31 on KEXP's Top 90.3 of 2009, and made DJ Shannon's top 10.

It also got #22 on Sound on the Sound's Top 25 of 2009.

Nice, huh?

It's been a....year

I did some stuff this year. I released my first solo album and started writing my next. I produced a lot of great music with bands like The Moondoggies, DeVries, The Little Penguins, The Lights, Telepathic Liberation Army, and Black Daisy. I nearly saw gay marriage become a legal reality. I gained a bunch of weight. I was severely broke (no change there.) And I managed to stay alive and relatively healthy. It's been a year.

If you liked my album, you should go vote for it as one of your top albums of 2009 at http://kexp.org/events/topsof2009/Top2009.aspx.

Also, my wonderful boyfriend updated my website. Ain't he great?

Thanks to all of you for hanging around, listening, playing shows, writing songs, uploading, downloading, paying for, stealing, eating, drinking, sleeping, and being there with me this year.

If you're in the Seattle area, you can celebrate the final moments of this year with me and my lovely friends Coulter, DJ Buttontop, DJ Up Above, and other guests at Bus Stop for THE COUNCIL NEW YEAR'S EVE. Should be a blubbery mess of fun.

xo

Listen to me!

I've been invited to be a guest on the air of DJ Tim's late night KEXP show on Wednesday November 3rd @ 1am. That's Tuesday night to me and most of you. If you're in Seattle and awake, tune me in while I play some of my favorite stuff. If you're outside of the Seattle area, you can listen in at www.kexp.org on one of their streaming players.

While I was in LA, I saw an amazing documentary called "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation" about Australian exploitation movies. I have about a year worth of movies to queue up from this doc alone. Very worth your time.

I'll be posting details soon about my NYC trip. You can come hear/see me DJ at some bar in Williamsburg (you'll know when I know) on the 21st.

Still waiting on the new Dead Mellotron album that was supposed to be out October 8th. Anyone have any clue where that is?

Sore knees and kind words

This running thing is great, but I'm worried it might be for people with better knees. Or maybe my knees are about to become bionic and I'll be able to run slo-mo but faster than everyone else (I don't know how to type the Bionic Woman sound effect, but I did want to be her when I was a kid.)

Hobbling from my bed to the computer this morning, I received this review in my email.

http://spectrumculture.com/2009/06/erik-blood-the-way-we-live.html


What carries The Way We Live is that producer's ear, which enables Blood to beautifully craft the arrangements of each song. Whether he's detailing urban frustration on "Home & Walk" or attempting a new beginning on "Broken Glass," it's the punchy guitar that initially snags the listener's attention, while Blood bricks up a wall of sound behind that. Sometimes it's strings, sometimes it's layers and layers of sighing vocals, but always it's a juggernaut of sound that demands attention.

Then I discovered that "To Leave America" is featured on John Richard's "Summer Songs" podcast. You can subscribe to his, and many other amazing podcasts at KEXP.ORG.

So despite the pain and limited mobility, today's turning out to be a pretty good day.

P.S. Happy Gay Pride Month! Do something gay, like going to see me at the Tractor on the 16th.

xo

Work vs. Sun

Being a producer in the Pacific northwest, you have to sacrifice a lot of beautiful days to sit in a dark, smelly, windowless room staring at monitors and pushing buttons and moving faders and remembering to stand up and stretch. It's worth it when the music comes out good.


Today, final Black Daisy mixes were completed while the sun gave a new life to Seattle residents who suffered through last week's horror and a couple of nasty storms earlier this week. Next up, I will be hiding out in the studio to tweek the fuck out of the new Lights album. So close, by the way. KEXP apparently has some secret leaked mixes (I'm not even sure they have titles) that get played every once in a while. Like I said before, the mixes we did when we left the studio were great, but they will soon be spectacular.

This summer, I will be heading into the studio with Redwood Plan to make my contribution to their upcoming album. Not sure who else they're working with, but I'm sure it's going to be a fabulous record. Haven't set dates with Devices yet, but I'm hoping that happens sooner than later.

During all this, I will also be working on new Erik Blood material and a collaborative effort between me and Altspeak. Speaking of Altspeak, if you haven't downloaded "It's Up to You" yet (it's fucking free!!!) you better get your ass to www.altspeak.com and download it. That's one slept on record, my friends.

Tonight at Lo-Fi in Seattle, Andy Rourke from The Smiths is DJing after performances by Romance, Altspeak, Coulter, and Pedestre. That's quite a line-up and well worth the price of admission, whatever it is. I'll be there until I go celebrate a certain awesome-colored friend's birthday.

More to come...

More Tea Cozies!

It's full on Tea Cozies mania today! I love it! This is from KEXP's blog:

Tea Cozies’ new album, Hot Probs is a perfect pop record for the nice weather that comes with the summer. It’s just made for driving or walking around in the sunshine with your shades on because it’s loaded with sugary pop music. The songs are fun, catchy and upbeat and at times they bring to mind The Beach Boys, Imperial Teen, The White Stripes, The Go-Go’s and Dick Dale.


Ya damn right! Read more by clicking HERE.

Tea Cozies also did a damn fine job at the KEXP in-studio performance today at noon. Go to the streaming archive and check it out, or just come to High Dive tonight for their CD release show. I heard there might be a guest tambourinist on "Pretty Pages".

xo

Easter with The Lights (or "it's not you, it's me!")

Thankful for a lack of religious and or familial obligations on Easter, I spent that rainy Sunday at Mysterious Red X with three of my old friends. After two rounds of coffee, a cookie, a trip to Uwajimaya's food court, and three (or four) trips to Shell for potato chips and beer, thirteen hours passed and an album was completed. Technically...


Not yet titled, though several hilarious options were tossed around, there's a new album by The Lights that's basically done and ready to be mastered. Alas, I don't feel like I'm done with it yet. I'm being an overprotective mother. "It's cold outside and this album ain't got no gloves on!" I can't help but be like this when I think the songs are so amazing. So I'm going to sneak off into the studio over the next couple of weeks and try to complete it to my satisfaction. I'll let you know what comes up once I get started.

Go listen to their live performance from April 11th on KEXP's Audioasis by clicking here and selecting Saturday April 11th @ 8pm. It's a pretty amazing performance, and they play all new songs from the album of which I speak.

Travis DeVries' album "Death to God" Coming Soon

Though the release date is yet to be official, Travis DeVries' debut solo album "Death to God" is starting to get some airplay on KEXP. I am assured by my friend at Noise on Noise Records that it will be released this spring.


Some may find it funny that once Travis and I decided to make solo albums, we also decided to have the rest of The Turn-ons perform on them, but can you really blame us? You can hear me, Corey, Will, and the magnificent return of Sharon Oshima on "Death to God" filling out Travis's strongest song writing to date. Travis told me he's got a band together in NYC and the show dates are starting to pop up on his Myspace page (you want to go to there).

This album took a really long time to finish, mainly because of the wealth of material Travis presented for consideration. Travis's sometimes overwhelming desire for perfection added a few weeks to the process, but always for the greater good. In the end, I think we put together a beautiful and haunting piece of music that's going to demand recognition.