TELAFONICA

the internet is a wonderful, bizarre, self-referential place. look at this. i won't say 'i told you so'! :) better start uploading that new format.

It is frustrating me that i can't find an easy way to override individual post CSS. So any formatting that has been inserted to individual posts can only be changed by editing that post. Grrr.

tape noise listen, it's in the details this is the new thing falling out or falling in i'm not really ready but i'm jumping in and the way ahead is very long and the night is dark and your will is strong which are worse - the punches or the lies or the years together now denied? "and every prediction is coming true and every prediction points to you" i can feel the bones beneath my skin every one is digging in don't desert me once again where are you my only friend? "and every prediction is coming true and every prediction points to you" the sun sets on the age of the instrumentalist "sound machinery de-skills and de-physicalises music, allowing thinking and hearing precedence over gymnastics. practising is no longer necessary." (attributed to kraftwerk, paraphrased by kodwo eshun) requited love do you still the scars on my face? do they bother you at all? do you still hear the tantrums in my voice? will you reach down when i fall? do yo...

I’ve been thinking about the new website. And I really like the idea of structuring it more closely to the album. So under the overall framework – ‘I saw this and thought of you’ – a series of graphics and text linked to the songs on the album. Using lyrics etc. We could still include other photos of gigs etc. I’d like to design this also with the album artwork in mind – so the experience of listening, holding and looking is tightly linked. I’m not suggesting throwing out the current sketches – that’s still a structure and aesthetic i’m keen on. If you like this idea – could you send through the current lyrics you have – so I can start putting together some design sketches. Also – I need to talk to you about possible construction of the TMN package so I can develop a more functional design sketch. Ps – I hate having a day job

i think it's already the title of the album in my head. it fits with what i think the album is mostly lyrically based on - cautionary tales of an odd sort, directed at people who are not me. do you know how to shift the title bar in the css for this page so that it sits right across the top, instead of starting justified with the text a third of the way in? i think the title image is going to go off to the side once anyone starts looking at it on a smaller screen.

I have to say - the title "I saw this and thought of you" is really sitting well with me as a title. I find it to be quite rich with emotional resonance for me. what do you think?

on our next european tour, we really should stay here .

i think the fact that this blog is mostly housekeeping is precisely what could set it apart from other blogs and make it interesting. the idea that people can see the process we go through in making decisions. i could be wrong, of course, but i like the fact that it's a different idea to other blogs. and there's other places for us to air opinions about the world etc (allb, etc). my opinions on the different sites: www.telafonica.com - a visual site where you (and me, i suppose) are free to place art/design/anything without concern for necessarily presenting lots of information. it's telafonica's aesthetic place. www.myspace.com/telafonica www.virb.com/telafonica - this is where we can make announcements, list gigs, list discography etc etc. they're the info sites for telafonica. i'm keen to get virb happening because it is much nicer, but at this stage, myspace needs to be kept up as well because that's where people actually are and actually look at the ...

Oh, I've just sent an email to you with a design for JLN. It's not A3, but I could very easily do a scaled up version. Feel free to give feedback that involves adjustments to the design... as long as we have time! These deadlines sound good, though I wonder if there will be time in there to actually prepare for the show. In terms of getting a blog public... do you think this blog as it currently stands would be the kind of thing that is interesting? It seems like a lot of it is just housekeeping! I'd like to have a conversation with you about content for the new site - what will we put on the flash site, what will we leave to myspace (or maybe virb)... and what ongoing content would you like to upload in a blog like format. In the meantime, i will proceed with uploading a simple (at least in terms of content) version of the new site - as well as tweaking the CSS of this blog so it's nicer. Also - I've changed your permissions to admin. Congratulations. Feel free to ...

i've put us down for july at just like now. unfortunately, o||o will be out of the country, so who would we like to ask to play with us? some deadlines - now we're talking! :) what if we aimed to have a remix e.p. ready for the july show? it's only two months off, but i think it's do-able. if i send out word in the next few days and ask for the remixes back in say 4 weeks, it will give us enough time to put it all together. we will need to get some artwork, of course. by that time i think we could also have the album recorded and ready to master. i think if we get ant to master it it would be good. i've been listening to a few things he's mastered and it's done very well. so - an album recorded by july 14? website - any day you're ready! i'd also like to get the blog public, which will involve whatever aesthetic alterations you'd like to happen, or pulling it across to another blogsite etc. i'd also love to have some access to setti...

Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this post. I actually had a couple of attempts last week which were scrapped because I had nothing interesting to say other than to agree to your questions. Not sure if you got the message through celli… Can we do july JLN? I agree about the remixing – it makes a lot more sense to trade remixes with people who are interested rather than pay someone who is indifferent. I like your list… I will try to add a couple. If you asked Caribou – why not Four Tet!? In terms of getting things on track I’m wondering if we need to set some dates down as deadlines. I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I guess it would be nice to have an idea of when we’re thinking we want to finish recording / do artwork / complete the web stuff / master etc etc. That way we can hold ourselves and each other accountable with specifics rather than just a general feeling of – oh I wish this was done by now! I got a bit involved with finishing off some freelance stuff i...

o.k. i feel it time to get things moving along again! when are we going to play at just like now? july? ausgust? we will get paid this time, if nothing else. but we can ask anyone we like to play as well, as the payment thing means they're more likely to say yes. so we can use it as a first step to setting up the kind of line-ups we'd like to be part of. should we ask o||o if they'd like to do it with us? or someone else? marcella is coming over on tuesday to do some singing, so i'll hopefully be in a position to start sending stuff out for possible remixing then. my thoughts are that we should just go with people who are basically willing to do it for free, and offer to remix exchange with them. there are enough really good people at our level who i think will do a good job, and get a variety of stuff out of it to make for some interesting possible releases. here's a list of folk i am planning on asking, add any you would like: lipstick/sunstroke millitia...

any advances on any of the websites?

I will have a play with virb. I noticed that we can pipe in (note the Zissou reference) external blogs and Flickr streams. I kind of like the idea of being an anti myspace evangelical leader! I love the idea of a book or zine expanding the scope of visual output attached to the album. I’m 100% behind that concept. Combining digital and hand printed / drawn / painted stuff is something I’ve been very interested in for a while now. This is kind of the idea I had in my head when I suggested printing all the text on the case and then hand making images. I will try to collate some stuff we can print out and experiment with. My friend was telling me about some stuff he’s done using those inkjet t-shirt image transfers – but sticking on other surfaces like paper, wood etc. I think this could work really well. I think it would be interesting to apply for a grant for telafonica – though I wonder what filter it would place on the way people interpret whatever we do. What kind of thin...

http://virb.com/telafonica . why not - can't hurt. i'll send the log-in details and you can go and get busy on it. what do you think of the idea of creating a zine as part of the packaging for the new album? i also thought of the idea of actually getting some of the computer stuff you are working with printed up properly, then screening and hand painting/drawing stuff over that for the artwork for the album. also, are you interested in applying for an ozco grant for telafonica? the next cutoff is in june. if we propose something great, they might go for it.

A better designed version of myspace?

yes - that's much better, david. what do you mean, 'teacher tone'?? i only have one tone! sorry - yep - i like the new version. having those shapes move around as an overlay almost feels like the viewer gets to 'remix' the site in real time, doing their own photoshopping. i really like the image of all our feet. when can i get a cd of all those photos i don't have?! i like the pattern that's currently there, but also like the idea of that changing regularly, but always fitting in to whatever the aesthetic of the whole thing is? is there an aesthetic for it in your mind at the moment that will grow into other areas? obviously there is the rephotographed photo thing happening - is that something you imagine developing? i have to say, i'm not really sure about the technicalities of the various blog formats. i am more than willing to learn, but i think at this stage you've got the headstart and i'm very happy to let you make the choice...