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

See You Next Tuesday, Henleys

"See You Next Tuesday", the lead off track on Coulter's SENT TO COVENTRY album, is being used by Henley's in the UK for their latest campaign. Well done, Coulter!

http://www.henleysclothing.co.uk/lifestyle-video

All of yall know that this album is available as a free download from his website which you can get to by clicking HERE.

A new album by The Lights is going to hit you over the head with your own arm!

Keep an eye out for what I believe is the finest musical moment of The Lights thus far. Everything I talked about in a previous post about the sound of this album has been rectified.


Now my only concern is the mastering. I'm hoping that Kramer gets the gig, but it's now in the hands of Wantage Records. Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign?

In other news, Coulter's album is starting to get some press overseas. How can I get on that boat?

From The Congleton Chronicle:

Coulter ‘Sent to Coventry’ The only one of this bunch of new releases you won’t have heard of, Coulter is pretty good in a low key way.He’s from Seattle but must know something about England because the album title is not a well-known phrase over there. He writes well crafted, gentle, atmospheric pop tunes that had strings that swell and choruses that echo.It took us a while to pin down the sound but eventually it clicked: Cosmic Rough Riders on a good day (though there are shades of Orange Juice’s “Rip it up” on the first track).First play through, you think it’s good enough to give a second spin; second time is enough for a third go and by about the fourth or fifth play through you’re hum-ming the tunes.Fans of The Smiths might liketo know that Gary Day, bassistwith the boy Morrissey, plays onthis. Out on 20th July.JMC

Word.

THE COUNCIL IS COMING

Seattle used to have a really fun Britpop night called Top of the Pops where you'd go get wasted and dance like a fool to Pulp, Suede, and Blur. After that died, an even more fun Britpop night called "START!" begun which incorporated live bands with their exquisite DJ sets. When that died, we got the ultimate live music and dance DJ night called "Wire" which summed up all of the fun of it's predecessors. Sadly, the Britpop part of it fell by the wayside. And you couldn't blame anyone because let's face it. Britpop died.

It's been a while, and at the risk of sounding retro, I'm incredibly excited for THE COUNCIL. It seems that I'm not the only person who longs for those drunken evenings dancing to Pulp, Suede, and Blur, and as it turns out there's a whole mess of new music to dance like a fool to! Brought to us by Tif Vicious (an adorable moniker for an even more adorable lady) and hosted by Bus Stop, THE COUCIL will kick off Wednesday July 22nd and will feature the DJ skills of Coulter (yes, that Coulter), DJ Up Above! (yes, Phil), and DJ Cuddleup! Yes, that's me.

You'll definitely hear some old favorites from the 60's on, but be prepared to hear new artists coming out of the UK and some great UK influenced artists from around the world. I'm making a point to find a few choice newbies that hopefully will be your next favorite band.

Oh, and did I mention it's FREE? See you there!

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...

Coulter's "Sent to Coventry" Free Download

Click here to download Coulter's "Sent to Coventry" for free.

It's December 17th and the wind is creating a huge racket with the metal garage door at MRX. Coulter and I have just finished bouncing the final mixes (or so we thought) of his new album and are about to race back to Capitol Hill before it starts snowing. Just like on previous mixing days, we immediately listen to the opening track "See You Next Tuesday" in the car. We can't help but giggle and dance around in our seats, very happy with how it turned out.


It wasn't until much later that night that the snow began to fall, successfully shutting Seattle down and trapping us on our hilly snow covered island for nearly a week. This was also around the time that I had my first serious listen to the final mixes and began making my notes. Little things I hated, loved, couldn't put my finger on, all immediately came forth in red ink on a small sheet of paper: more of this, less of that, pleas for help, occasional pats on the back. My favorite note is "The Path of Most Resistence - needs to be more awesome."

Luckily, after the snow melted and mobility was restored, we'd have a chance to address all of my issues while recording trumpets (courtesy of the amazingly talented and lovely Peter Lynch) and inserting an upright bass track recorded long distance by Gary Day. Once that was done, we polished off the rest of the mixes and called it "Sent to Coventry". Ten songs that range from white boy soul (a la Orange Juice or dare I say Wham!) to new romantic disco to lush orchestral pop all bound by Coulter's songwriting in peak form. My personal favorite is, of course, "The Path of Most Resistence" which I think we managed to make more awesome.

...and we finished.

Just got home from MRX where Coulter and I put the finishing touches on his up-coming album “Sent to Coventry” which should be available this spring.


My favorite Chameleon Labs 7720 was back in action, which brought joy to our ears. Up next, a CD makes a trip to Florida and gets fondled by Kramer. This will be my 4th project that he has mastered for me and I can’t wait to hear it. I think I might be able to get Coulter to let me post a song here for yall to listen to. I’ll get back to you on that.

Tomorrow is a preproduction meeting with Altspeak to determine what’s going on with his next album. Stay tuned for more info.

xo