02/10/2008

still thinking of you

ok. so i want to get this backlog of music released, and then get going on the new eps etc. i have just ordered an album by an artist called color cassette. the album is 8 tracks long. what interests me most about it is that it uses the old vinyl idea of side a and side b, but in a new light. the album comes as two 3" cds - 1 cd is 'side a' and the other cd is 'side b'. i like this idea. so, a proposal....

for those in england - have a listen through again to the tracks for 'i saw this and thought of you'. choose the two you like least and discard them. of the remaining 8 tracks, decide upon a running order, 4 tracks per 'side'. this then becomes our album. the packaging still remains simple but good, so we can sell the album relatively cheaply - say $10. maybe an insert with a single colour screenprint plus black photocopy at a3 size - a poster on one side with info on the other? the two cds are stuck one on either side of a piece of card, sitting on a foam dot each - so they are literally two sides. the whole thing could maybe be put into an envelope.

the other two tracks can be put out as an e-single, or saved and worked on for later ep use or something like that.

yes? no?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

i like the idea of side A and B but not so much the separate discs... It seems over the top to me. But 8 tracks is a good number.

ajebec said...

then that is a step forward! any inkling of which 8, specifically? :)

Anonymous said...

I've spent some time trying to figure out the 8 tracks I think would work best. I've been a bit angsty about it... but I guess that's just my style. Despite some general misgivings, I think it will be good to create something that in some way represents the last couple of years and acts as punctuation for the next phase of the band that is already underway.

I find myself leaning towards 5 - 7 because I'm not sure there's 8 tracks I feel 100% about. I also feel more comfortable with something that tilts more the the EP side... If there's really any relevance in that at all.

The five tracks I feel most settled and happy about are This is the new thing, listening in for static, item number, tape noise, blending the edges.

On the shoulder of those 5 are Requited Love and Send Away. I struggle to fit Send Away with the other tracks and I think Requited Love just errs on the side of rough (though that could be its quality)

I really like what you've done with GEM but I feel the song just isn't there.

I'm comfortable with things being left behind because it's good to leave something in reserve... or something like that.

ajebec said...

this is the new thing
listening in for static
item number
tape noise
blending the edges

requited love
send away

++++++

gem
smells like rain
laughing at trees

++++++

just so i can see them for myself in a list.

ajebec said...

how about a running order of this:

tape noise
blending the edges
this is the new thing
send away
requited love
item number
listening in for static


seems to flow well to me, and gives the feeling i always look for of having been taken from one place to somewhere else. sequences like the opening 3 tracks make a lot of sense thematically, and requited love is rhythmically similar (at least in my mind) to item number, which i think keeps them flowing well. i actually find send away one of the most satisfying of the tracks - it has a great tension between movement and melancholy which i think sums up what telafonica generally does, so sits quite well for me in the centre.

david said...

Yep. okay. Let's do it.

ajebec said...

do you have any ideas for artwork?

Anonymous said...

something very simple. A slip maybe. I see this is a kind of accidental release which is mostly about clearing the decks and allowing things to move on. As such, anything with fanfare feels wrong to me. you (aje) may feel differently... I'm not sure.

In case it's not painfully obvious already - I don't have much energy behind the idea of releasing these tracks. Personally, I need to move on... and don't need to release these tracks to do so. But I am keen to honour all the energy you (aje) have put in to finishing the tracks. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you feel the best thing is to release these tracks at this stage in the order we've agreed that's fine by me, and I'd love to help with artwork. But you should also feel free to keep them for use with other newly created and yet to be written songs.

Either way, after this decision is made and something is released (or not) I will be disappearing officially from the Telafonica grid. Hopefully to return at some unknown future date in some unknow future form.

ajebec said...

from here, those songs still have currency so i'm still quite keen to make them available. we're playing them live and the new context that provides has kept them fresh. once released, they will get radio play because there's a bit of momentum behind everything at the moment. so even though we started work on them a long time ago, they are actually now coming to life.

i think the low-keyness is ok - especially as a 35 minute collection - and so the simple sleeve is excellent by me. what i'd really like is a simple slip, as you've said, which houses a disc and folded up a3 poster. the kind of thing you've been posting of your own work and that of others (especially that beuro ink one) on a life less binary would be excellent. simple, strong and fairly graphic, i guess. i'm also still a big fan of this si beg release (http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=1371).

it can be two sided - i have access to laser b&w printing at a3, and inkjet at a3 if needed, and would be happy to include a colour or two of screen printing.

so when can you have something designed by? then we'll be out of your hair? ;)