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17 December 2005

were they all just lost in the flood?

i've spent all day so far today listening to old vinyl records. i have a totally sweet turntable that i never use and a really warm sounding old hi-fi amp that i probably paid about $10 for at a yardsale because some yahoo got himself an alpine. old speakers, etc.

the point is that everyone who says rock and roll sounds best on vinyl is 100% right. i have all these records on cd and vinyl. and they all sound better on vinyl. and if it totally doesn't break my bank, i am going to make some vinyl versions of "they're more afraid of you than you are of them" when i finally finish it. from what i hear vinyl is a specialty thing, but is affordable in small quantities. of course i haven't really done much homework on it yet.

but let's talk a bit about the record, since i don't feel like i do much of that anymore and as i've been recently reminded, that is why i started all this writing in the first place.

it's coming along. not without its share of frustration (i just shitcanned all but the drums for "a viking's funeral" so i can redo it in a different key that i can sing better), but it's coming. a song is done when i am still proud of it 2 weeks after the last time i tweaked it. and by that measure, 4/8 songs are done. of course one of those is the centipede song and it doesn't even belong on the album and it's been done for years and it'll probably just be a hidden track but who the f cares? the other three that are done are "if these walls could talk," "i spin forever," and "new york city." i haven't even started "doctor, these headaches" or "triple deke" yet. that leaves "the loudest man on the laugh track" which is the one i earlier intimated might end up sounding like a william shatner song. at this point that is still possibly the case.

in a drawer here at my desk i have about 10 rolls of undeveloped film dating as far back as my sophomore year in college (which is like 5 years ago) and some recent introspection has made me decide to get them developed. for all i know they've expired or something, but they've all been in lightproof cases and all that so i'm just going to hope for the best. the point is, there's going to be a lot on there that's going to hurt to see. but probably a lot also that'll be really nice. and since none of them are labeled, everytime i do one it'll be a surprise. i hope whether nice or not they'll move me forward with this record and with life in general. not that i'm living in the past or anything (not that far in the past anyway) but these film rolls represent to me a lot of shit i've avoided confronting for a long time. i guess i'll keep you posted.

lastly, i know i've linked you to the ex-girlfriend project about a million times by now, but he mentioned the other day how "mary, queen of arkansas" always reminded him of "kara" (who so far is unquestionably the most interesting of his ex's) and that just came on while i was typing all this. on vinyl the way it should be.

3 comments:

  1. photo-wise:

    even if they're expired, you can still try to develop them. they may not be "perfect" pictures, but they might come out to be arty and interesting. a guy in my photo class took pictures with a 13 year old roll of film, and his pictures looked fucking awesome when he developed them. so even if they hurt, or even if they help you move on, you may have some pretty cool looking pictures nonetheless. and then you can lie to people and tell them you did it on purpose and then they'll be really impressed, and it wouldn't even really be a lie because you were aware that they were five years old when you developed them.


    band-wise:

    i am really glad it's coming along. even though you may be frustrated about "viking's funeral" you want it to be perfect and you want to be able to sing it live :) i have faith in your capabilities on getting it done and it being great. and you will get it done, and it will be great.

    wait, you have "i have spin forever" finished? when are you going to get the lyrics and personal anecdote up, bro? i live for that shit.

    yeah, so... good luck.


    -jen

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  2. You know I don't think Vinyl is too expensive, this place in Australia has a minimum quantity of 1, so I am sure there must be somewhere similar in the US. Maybe if it is super expensive you can just get one done for yourself to listen! haha

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  3. I just want to say that I think "Loudest Man on the Laugh Track" is awesome the way it is. That's by far my most favorite of the songs you've posted on teh intarnets thus far.

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