a three legged dog is still a dog

it just has to learn to walk differently.

this quote, michael stipe’s description of the descision to carry on after bill berry left in 1996, came to mind when r.e.m. finally split a couple of weeks ago. save “up”, when they certainly at least tried to learn, it seems like they’ve spent 15 years doing exactly the opposite, and trying to walk like they once did from memory. a few times they’ve given the illusion, if you don’t look too closely, that they can still move fine, but i’m struggling badly to recall one single great song since 1998. y’know, great. like harborcoat, laughing, cuyahoga, nightswimming, hairshirt, king of birds, try not to breathe, welcome to the occupation, so. central rain, half a world away, driver 8, perfect circle or any one of the hundred others pre berry leaving.

anyway, the point is, the spilt is a cause for celebration. we can stop wondering if the next record will be a return to form (it won’t) and start rejoicing in the memory. i’d kill to make a record this good, so confident and at home with it’s own internal logic.

in other news, we have a couple of shows coming up, at the hew scott hall in anstruther on the 6th of november, and supporting the wonderful high llamas at sneaky pete’s in edinburgh on the 4th of december. more concrete details to follow…….

so it goes.

it’s almost hilarious, looking at the last post on this site, thinking about everything that has happened since, almost, almost hilarious. anyway, enough about me, let’s talk about you. we’re playing our first show of the year (jeeez) on tuesday, the 31st of may. it’d be really good to see you there.

detail: it’s at electric circus, 36 market street, in edinburgh, we’re sandwiched between the travelling band and the last battle, in a show that runs from 7pm and costs £6. tickets here.

strangley, i’ve been listening to “monster” by r.e.m. a lot, which i previously considered to be one of their least worthy efforts.

stranger still, hot on the heels of that show, we’re playing another, on sunday the 5th of june, at the meadows festival, in, um, the meadows. it’s free. i really hope it’s sunny, i know that’s not exactly “news”.

we’ve finished recording our debut album also, which should be out in november, more news on that really soon.

finally, here’s a picture, which sums it up better than i ever could:

news etc.

hi, it’s been a while!

some news for you first of all: we have a few upcoming gigs, firstly tonight (tuesday (it’s tuesday the 27th of july, today)) in cabaret voltaire with the dum dum girls and my tiny robots, which promises to be a lot of fun, and is also our first show in an age….

then we’ve got retreat, which’ll be a blast, on the 28th of august at pilrig st. pauls on leith walk, and come on gang‘s single launch at the caves on septemebr the 10th, where found are also playing. the caves is one of my favourite venues in edinburgh, and the backstage area is full of local ghosts, so we’re really looking forward to this one too.

we’ve just been in the depot recording four new songs, so hopefully that means the album is close to being done. it’s finally starting to feel like it. of course, it also feels like the process could go on indefinitely, infinitely, so it’s not over til it’s over….

finally, here’s a song, for you.

this is an outtake from our first single session, when were a four-piece, which we don’t play anymore, but has a certain charm to it i think. it’s called “when you’ve got the sads real bad”.

m.

jeff and josephine

first up, a huge thankyou to everyone who came along to the gig last week, especially to owen curtis williams, who did a sterling job on drums for us. thanks owen!

“j. & j.” is the first taste of our debut album, which will be out hopefully in october, certainly before the year’s end. initial tracking was done with craig ross in the depot, granton. craig also played piano on the track, and pete harvey of the leg and meursault played the cello. another big thankyou to craig and pete! the song takes inspiration from the sausage dogs at sophie elm’s wonderful jeff jospehine designs, jeff and jospehine. right click on the picture below to download…..

in other news, we’re playing gonorth in inverness this thursday, the 10th of june, and supporting the amazing dum dum girls in cabaret voltaire in edinburgh on the 27th of july. more news as it happens, thanks for reading!

m.

the fruits of our loins

a gentle, nudging reminder to you all that, yes, we do still play music – we’re launching an ultra limited single of sorts tomorrow at this is music’s fourth birthday. it’s called “j. & j.” (jeff and josephine), it’ll look like this, and it costs £1. it’ll be up as a free download over the weekend only, so check  back here for more details and everything, maybe saturday morning.

as for the gig, we’ll be joined by the lovely eagleowl and maple leaves, as well as the lovely band slut (matthew’s definition, not mine!) owen curtis williams, filling in for neil insh while he’s temporarily ensconced in sunny spain. it’s at sneaky pete’s and starts at 7pm, friday night. see you there?

m.

a long time coming.

i’m sorry there hasn’t been much happening on here of late. there are only so many ways you can say “we’re recording our album, it’s a slow process….” we’re poking our heads above ground now, so hopefully things will begin to happen, and news will begin to flow.

so, news? the session we did for they shoot music, don’t they? is now up online, it turned out pretty nicely i think, though floyd the cat, all nonchalance and aching cool, is the obvious star turn.

we’re playing our first gigs in a while, starting tonight at maggie’s chambers, with the exciting white heath, which is something to look forward to! it’s free too, so hopefully see some of you there? let’s get together.

next month we’re playing at the tigerfest festival on the 12th of may, at electric circus, and launching a cd-r ep of works in progress at sneaky pete’s on the 28th.

i’m also putting together the stuff we recorded for off the beaten tracks for download – here’s a preview, “oh, messy life”, recorded in the reading room of the bowery in summer 2009:

ohmessylife

well, that’s it for now, speak soon, and hopefully see some of you tonight!

m.

progressing

apologies for the lack of posts recently, but i’ve been in hospital, my first asthma attack in 26 years. stranger still, as i had no idea i even had asthma anymore…..so recording/writing about recording/thinking about recording has taken a bit of a back seat, as you may imagine.

anyway, enough about me, let’s talk about you.

there a couple of free downloads for you today, demos of songs that will likely make the new album. right-click to download either, or both. or neither. whatever.

“twins” was recorded, in neil d.’s living room, where we’ve been doing the bulk of our group writing and recording to date, with a kind of “tape rolling” policy. i really like the sound of these recordings (it’s a great, dead-sounding room) and i think we’ll use this setup for some future releases, maybe even some stuff for the album. “twins” is currently looking like being the first single, we spent quite a bit of time on it in the depot, and it’s sounding like the most finished and immediate track so far.

twins (living room demo)

“sketch for the sea” is something from a while ago, recorded in viewforth church and forgotten about, but it has something worth investigating i think. we’ll certainly try something, see where it leads. it’s not very percussively interesting, and accidentally (i swear!) rips off a song from an advert (by lykke li, i’m informed.) in its rhythm, but there’s some potential at the heart of it, somewhere. anyway, i really like this recording, i hope you do too.

sketch for “the sea” (demo)

in other news, the new joanna newsom album is astoundingly good, again.

m.