Working working, updating playlist, working, looking for work looking for apartment

It's been a while, but that isn't to say we haven't been working. Well, I'm still technically looking for a steady 'real' job (thank you recession), but we have been working on new and old songs since I last posted. Although, I did have to take a breather last weekend to escape to Boston and clear my head of February blues (and snowboard before I forget how to actually do that). While I have been tooling away at home on vocals and weird instrumental bits on all our songs, John has been educating himself on the intricate art of mixing.
At this point we have a bunch of songs, but we are taking our time to make sure that the sounds that we choose for instrumentals and the songs that we consider 'finished' are exactly as amazing as we envisioned them to be, rather than just cranking them out to get the EP done with. Now, when we go into the studio we pick out a number from a hat and work on whatever song I have assigned that number. It seems to be working pretty well, and helps with the invariable "What song should we work on?" hesitation when we get into the studio on the weekend.

Anyways, the playlist was due for an update because I have become obsessed with a lot of songs since I last updated it so hopefully you will enjoy the new additions.

Happy New Year!

Despite the fact that we haven't been able to put in the time at the studio that we would have liked to because of the holidays, this weekend was surprisingly productive and successful. Friday night was a wash out, since a meeting and a subsequent bar hopping tour through lower Manhattan meant there was no way we would be heading out to Brooklyn on the L train to work in the space. We managed to finish arranging a song called "Never See," which we are both really excited about...especially considering the fact that last week we were both about to implode in frustration over how annoying our main synth line had become and our inability to find a good replacement for one of the fundamental parts of the song. There is nothing like the feeling of laying a bit down that just fits perfectly and makes the song come together...and then having it spawn more ideas of what you could add/take away.
Here's to a productive, joyful and amazing 2009. I have a feeling it will be a crazy one :)

a trainwreck of an mp3 for toi

I believe that line was in the last email I just sent John with my latest attempts at a song that I've been hacking away at while he's been in Virginia for the holidays catching big fish that don't quite warrant a citation, but are impressive nonetheless.

Yes, I'm aware that I dropped off the blogosphere for like a month. We were, in fact, getting a lot done, and I just got distracted and wasn't sure there was anything fantastic to update people on. Well, there is this song we are almost done arranging, tentatively titled "Never See." After a few runs under the mill by us, it seems to have taken its shape and we should be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow. We are slowly but steadily getting a fair number of songs under our belt, and figuring out the next steps we need to take and walls we need to hit our heads against in frustration. Should be fun. I'm excited.

Oh, and we caught an awesome Friendly Fires show at The Annex some weeks ago. They sounded great and the place was packed. Have I mentioned how much I hate going to shows in the wintertime and dealing with people's (and my own) coats in a standing room only area? Yea, not so great. The only good thing is it is a protective barrier against overly excited fans and their wayward elbows.

Welcome to my playlist

Just updated our blog with a new fangled playlist, and currently John has had zero input in the songs, but that may change in the future. Or, he may have to upload a dueling playlist and we may start taking votes on whose is better...recounts may occur, chads will be counted, voter fraud will be investigated, and I will win regardless. Behold the democracy of Syvia :P

Note: The songs are not supposed to be played in a specific order, nor is there any meaning behind their arrangement in the list. I am merely lazy and started to compile all my favorite tunes. I am not finished yet (even picking these songs were tough because I didn't know when to stop and just upload the damn player before I kept adding more).

And the beat goes on

I know, I know, it has been a while, but you will be psyched to hear that we are still alive and kicking. Last weekend we managed to write and arrange a song within about a week and a half, which we are thrilled about. It began with a little idea I had laid down, and then we worked on all last weekend. The song is tentatively called "Because Really You Should." Tonight we are doing pre-production with our buddy Dan, who is going to lay down some drum ideas on the tunes that we have arranged. We also have a number of exciting possibilities that are evolving but I'm going to keep mum about them until we are further along.

Quick show review: Sunday we hit up the free No Age and Titus Andronicus show at Santos Party House. It was my first time seeing No Age live, and from what I heard, they weren't "themselves," which I guess was a good thing since I wasn't blown away by the performance. I wish I had caught them when they played Bowery Ballroom, because that was supposed to have been off the hook.

JUSTICE rocks the house that is Webster Hall

Had a great time at the Justice show last Thursday night. Despite the one hour wait outside in the cold and the fact that Justice didn't start until around 2am, it was still worth it. They put on a slamming show. The kind of show where the music is so loud and awesome that you can just close your eyes and let the sounds wash over you and clear your mind, because there is no way you could get a clear thought through that kind of entertainment. I especially love how Justice does a bang up job of teasing a song out until you absolutely can't take it anymore because you know your jam is about to drop, and then when it finally does all you want to do is jump around and go crazy. The strobe lights, thumping beats, and packed crowd even at the wee hours of the night made it one amazing dance party.
Check out the photo of the disco ball that dropped around 3am (thanks for the pic Angela!).

The Second Coming of the Paper Lamp?

It may just rise again from the dead. Word on the street is that we are very very close to getting another studio space to work in with some buddies, which means that there is a good chance that a new and improved paper lamp mascot will make an appearance in our new and improved space. I am looking forward to freeing up our weekend evenings a bit for some proper shenanigans, rather than having to ask forgiveness from my friends for being so MIA these past few months. This weekend John has gone fishin' but he did leave me a nice little beat idea to work on, so i've been messing around with that in addition to taking these past few weeks to revisit some old drafts of previous tracks i had written and see if I was inspired after having let them sit for so long.

Wondering why you got no update last weekend? Well, let's just say it was a washout. A combination of mutual tiredness, a Diesel party that we ended up not even getting into b/c we arrived too late, and a delivery of RAM all conspired against us. But hopefully with our new space, we will be able to make up a bit for lost time.