Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

For the second time in my life, my car window was smashed and nothing was stolen. What is the point of breaking someone's car window if you don't steal something? I'm totally unwise about this type of thing, and the vandal could have made off with at least my car stereo and a CD or two. Anyway, the score is this :

Peter = -$325. 00
Universe = + 1 in karmic debt

I'm gonna collect on that someday!

Strangefolk has arrived...

After nearly a decade, one of my favorite bands from my college days has returned. Kula Shaker just had its domestic release of their third album last week, and it's one of those good news/bad news albums. The good news is that the band sounds exactly as they did when they released their second album in '99. They have retained their penchant for psychedelic pop flavored with Eastern influences. The band reunited (minus Jay Darlington as noted in a previous post,) and they still sound as if no time has passed. They are all hardcore vegans and espouse a philosophy of clean living with daily meditation, so the rigors of a rock and roll lifestyle has not touched any of the lot. Vocals are still sweet, Crispian Mills (Hayley's son) is still fast and furious on the guitar, and the songwriting is still pitch perfect pop. Here is where the problem creeps in.

As a concept, Kula Shaker always worked. Against the overwhelming tide of guitar-driven Britpop, they offered enough of a unique texture that they stood apart from the rest of the post Oasis/Blur imitators. In a crowded field, full of bands like Cast or Ocean Colour Scene, Kula Shaker stood out as some of the only people on the scene actually having fun. Then their second record came out. It was cranky, poorly sequenced, unevenly produced, and was way too political/mystical for most casual listeners to latch on to. It also suffered from one of my least favorite musical tricks. Rick Rubin was asked to produce one song on the record. That's like having Phil Spector or George Martin sit in the producer's chair for a number. On paper it sounds great, but in practice, it doesn't work. Inevitably, the Rubin song is always chosen as the single. Kula shaker followed the formula and released that particular track as the first single from the new record. I can remember going online in '98 and listening to the track streamed online. I was horrified for the actual album to come out. The song was terrible. The production was terrible. When the album arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the rest sounded great. Sounded, I said. The album itself was not great. Barring a couple of really excellent songs (Shower Your Love, Great Hosannah, Mystical Machine Gun,) it was a supremely shaky record.

All that aside, I saw them at The Metro in Chicago in '99 weeks before they called it quits. I was amazed at how great they sounded live, so my shock at their demise was immediate. Here was a competent band which sounded like a cross between Hendrix and George Harrison with a dash of McCartney. Here was a band who had just walked away from the sophomore slump that every band faces (are you ready for that, Curtains? hehe) Fast forward to 2008. We now have a new Kula Shaker record. As I said above, here's where the problem creeps in.

The biggest problem with the record is not the quality of the material, the production, or performance. It lies in the fact that they made the logical follow-up to Peasants Pig & Astronauts. This record should have come out in 2000 or 2001. It sounds as if all of the development of pop music in the 2000s has been ignored. It is a very safe record for them. Treading upon the hallowed ground of "playing it safe", Kula Shaker has made a disappointingly insignificant record. I'm absolutely pleased to own it. I will still pop it in the player 5 years from now for some of the tracks, but overall I was expecting some growth in the last 9 years.

Overall, it's pretty good. Safe, but enjoyable.

Dates Set for new Curtains Record

Howdy all,
After some debate, we are most likely scrapping the earlier sessions for the latest Curtains disc. We went into the studio last year (and recorded for a week in Ocean Shores) in preparation for this album, but we want to start over. It's not that we disliked the tracks or the direction that we were headed in, we just want to get a different sound for this record than when we started. It's just fodder for the next installment of Bootlegs For You. Anywho, we are set to head into the studio the first week of May. Hopefully this means the record will be released in the summer. Speaking of the Bootlegs series, there's enough material now for another disc, so stay tuned for that.


We will be playing The Sunset this Saturday, so head on up to Ballard. Also, don't forget about the Tractor show at the end of the month (the 27th.)

It's Away!

The Eagle has taken off. The black pig flies at midnight. Err... my album is officially off to RPM headquarters. I recorded the title track last night and hastily threw it on as a bonus track. The funny thing is that the last track is an early Beach Boys pastiche number. I've had a cold all week, and had to record this suprememly vocal-heavy song with my sinuses not cooperating. It's apparent that something is going on with my voice for only one part of the song. It's this over-the-top cheesy spoken word part hehe. Very dramatic in my cold voice! All in all, I got 11 tracks done with a running time of 36:11. Now back to my former life...

It's finished!

Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the center ring!



I've finished the album, and here is the cover. It has been an insane month, but ten tracks were finished. I would have loved to do more (and I just may sneak one more on,) but the challenge is over. I'm pressing up a super limited run of these, which will be signed and numbered (steady boy... keep that ego in check) for distribution to friends and family. May I also add that the RPM community is fantastic. I've learned tons from their forums. Every participant that I came into contact with was amazingly constructive and friendly. I cannot wait to hear some of the other albums that were completed.

In other news, Curtains For You will be playing on the 8th of March at Sunset up in Ballard. We will also be headlining the Tractor on the 27th. If you are on the fence about which show to go to, head to the Tractor, as we would love to have a huge turnout for that show. It's been a while since a Tractor gig, and this time it will be more that Matt, Nick, and I bashing away at guitar, accordion, and ukulele. God, that was a weird show. Do-be-do, progress is continuing on our next record. We are rehearsing to just go in and record the record in a couple of days in the studio. Not that there won't be monstrous over-dubs, but not as many as last time. This record will be louder, faster, and more raucous than the last. Here is a track-list (not in order) as of last night:

Dead World
Licorice Skies
Roadtrip to Disaster
Red Red Rose
Catacombs
Small Change
The Clanging of the Masses
An as-of-yet untitled slinky pop number by Matt (Everly Bros. vs. Buddy Holly vs. Kodachrome by Paul Simon) on which I get to play bass!
Dumb Angel
Just Like That, She's Gone
An untitled song by Matt that sounds like Surf's Up by the Beach Boys

Other contenders:

Longest Day
Too Late In The Game (I think that's the title?!)
Caspar & Evelyn
Hester & Alison

It's gonna be vastly different than the last record, and will better represent what we do on stage these days. If you want a preview, there are some of these tracks up on our myspace page , which we recorded live on KEXP. Other than that, my version of Roadtrip to Disaster, Dumb Angel and Just Like That, She's Gone are on my RPM page.

Sorry I have not posted in a while, I promise that now that Feb. is over, I will be more frequent with my rambles.

All the news that's fit to print...

Howdy loyal readers (all two of you - myself included.)

Life has been busy as usual, so here's the scoop:

My sister visited Seattle this last weekend, and we had a very low-key weekend, which consisted of watching the baby and... well, watching the baby. It was great to see her, as I hardly ever get the chance to spend time with her. On a funny note, I experienced "silence in stereo", as there were two people silently glued to their laptops in the apartment at once. Usually, I'm used to "silence in mono", as Melissa is the sole lap-topper. Not that I mind people soaking up the wifi when I'm around, it's just that us desk-toppers can't get away with sitting at our computers for hours on end, as we look like we are shutting out the world. Granted, my back is to the room when I'm computering, but lap-toppers still get that vacant computer brain when they are computering. You know what I mean, right? It's those conversations that go like this:

You: Hey there, I'm having a crisis about this or that, can you help? Oh, by the way, the meaning of life is _____ . Um, the house is on fire and shit, we should get out. Would you like a snack?

Computerizer: Silence.

You: I was wondering if you noticed that elephants were trampling the grass outside. I think the carpet just grew teeth and bit me. Have you seen our flamethrower?

Computerizer: (spoken slowly) Uh huh, what was that?

You: Man, I just ate a whole jar of mayo. Have you seen my galeptigizoink?

Computerizer: (spoken even more slowly) Uh huh.


So, I experienced that in stereo. I recognize that everyone needs to be online these days, but laptops are just unfair about it. The convenience of it all is amazing, but the down-side is that when I'm on the computer, I look like I'm "doing something" and I don't want to be disturbed. While this should be true for lap-toppers, they are just lounging about and somehow my brain thinks that they are still "available" mentally. Okay, all this comes down to is that I'm jealous of laptops. I've always wanted one, but have never had one. There, I said it.

Anywhen, we caucused this weekend (as did all of the boys from Obama For You nee Curtains For You.) They moved our precinct place from one school to another, and neglected to tell us until we were at the old school place (whoa... a double entendre!) The whole affair lasted over two hours, and Annabel was PERFECT! She was stepping out in her "President Poopyhead" outfit, complete with an Obama sticker. Needless to say, the delegate split was 4 Obama and 1 Clinton. I was a bit torn before the vote, and had an issues prep-talk with Melissa on the way over to the caucus. We are both a bit miffed at Obama's civil unions but no gay-marriage stance, but we both chose Obama for other issues. Melissa was concerned that I might go McCain, as I have total and utter respect for the man, but I did my duty to the Dems and stayed in line with my party. Truth be told, I was this close to voting for McCain in 2000. Shhh, don't let that cat out of the bag. Wowzers, a West Coast Democrat who is ballsy enough to say that he almost voted Republican once. I can hear the marching hiking boots and the soft swish of fleece from the lynch mob already...

Doo-be-doo, here's a picture of Annabel that was posted on the West Seattle Blog . Photo (per usual) credited to Melissa of fine-photo fame.




Isn't she cute?

In music news, RPM was on hold due to my sister's visit, but 7 out of 10 ain't bad. I'll get it done. Curtains had a rehearsal last night where we recorded roughs of the new album. We also worked on a new song of Matt's, where I get to play bass. BASS! Huzzah, I finally get to play another instrument on stage. I've never played bass live, and I'm going to make sure to make the most of my stand-up time on stage. I move around a ton when I'm playing guitar on stage (and yes, it's been a LONG time since doing that,) but I refuse to stand up while playing piano. Nothing says "never-been-laid-mouth-breather" more than standing up to play keyboards.

Case in point, pick out the keyboard player in this line-up


Oh yeah, he's the not-so-badass one on the left. And yes, he stands the whole time he is playing on screen. GRRRRRR...

RPM Update

Well, things are going swell in recording land. I've got 6-7 tracks down (depending on how I count one song that is a medley of two really.) I set up a new myspace page for the songs. It can be found here . It feels great to be recording again. I am anxious to hear what others are doing for this challenge.

In other news, this caught my interest. I am a sucker for the X-Men, and any cartoon involving them is pretty fun. This one looks like a cross between Evolution (for looks) the movies (for some plot details), and the old '90s one (for comic-accuracy). It really looks as if the characters designed for Evolution have aged. I always liked the design for Evolution, but hated that is was basically Saved by the Bell with my favorite comic book heroes. Let's hope that it turns out differently this time. It looks great so far, and I am anxious now. Look, someone just talked about somethign remotely fanboyish online and was not negative about it! WHOA!!!