Awkward For Life

It's been a while since I've updated here. To quote one of my favorite music writers, "Blog! Blogging on the blog. What happened, etc."

Well, i've been busy - making music, art, micro-blogging, tumblring, etc. Me and Liz are starting up a vinyl record label. It's an evolution i guess, on where to put things, but i am sorry if i've left any of you guys out in the dark because of it.

Well - here's what happened, our 2010 singles collection, with the help of our amazing Kickstarter contributors, turned into our 3rd full length album, Golden Age, which we're putting out on limited edition gold 12" vinyl.

I spent some time this morning listening through the test pressing. I'm really proud of it. The frantic pace of trying to put out 2 songs each month forced me to be more spontaneous, and let accidents happen. Not that i've ever been a perfectionist, but more than ever before, inspiration beat out perfection, introspection, and self-criticism. It's a different sounding record. I hope you like it.

One lesson i've learned over the last couple years is that when your making music you just have to go for it, and make your own mistakes. In the past i might have worried more, if the recording sounded "professional enough." I would have been told i needed to spend lots of money on recording, or mastering, or vinyl mastering, etc. I would have worried more if voice was a little off key here and there. Almost all these vocals are done in one or two takes. I used to do lots more and edit down, smooth out the edges. But i've never really been satisfied with the results of that process. It takes the life out of it, and makes it safe, and less interesting. I'm reading Kim Cooper's 33 1/3 Book about Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea right now, and it's totally inspiring. Those guys weren't concerned about being professionals, they were just chasing after greatness, and creating a sense of community. For me i've been lucky - everything always seems to find a way of working out. I guess i believe that in art, it pays to be bold, and persistent.

Anyway, you can only fit so many minutes of music on 12" of vinyl, so we've compiled the rest of the songs from our our singles collection as an EP called Everything Follows, which you can download for free at Bandcamp.


Well, there's more to tell you, but that's alot of information for now, and i've got to get back to cleaning the dishes. Thanks so much for listening, reading, and being a part of our world. I'd love it if you could pass the word about this new music along to friends - i really want as many people as possible to hear it - that's sort of the reward of it all.

Oh yeah and I titled this post Awkward for Life, because that's the name of our new label - and it sort of describes the whole ethos of what we're doing. Sure, this is awkward-- we're awkward. If you've ever met me in person, you know that my conversations tend to ramble and get weird and tangential. I don't have a gift for small talk. But the thing is, it doesn't matter. Let's all just embrace it, and go for it. I mean, why not?

Cheers,
Brian