I completely forgot to spiel about my involvement with a total wonder-film directed and produced by my bros Sam Walkerdine and Luke Marsh.
I was super touched when Luke approached me to get involved with both the graphic design and soundtrack for a documentary film about the beach combers on the island of Texel off Holland. Sam and Luke spent intense amounts of time navigating hours upon hours of interview clips before they hammered the footage into an intriguing, melancholic masterpiece of a short film. I remember Luke showing me a beautiful time-lapse of the sun setting over Texel. When I asked if they'd use it he said, "nah, it's a bit telly." Their stubborn dedication towards an honest account makes for a better watch.
Despite seeing works in progress and cut after cut, it's only tonight that I've seen the final version thanks to a Facebook link popping up on my feed. I'm proud as anything that it's my music accompanying the footage and my design work helping to tell the tale (though, Luke's motion graphics work sets it off perfectly). Most of all I'm proud of my friends Luke and Sam for properly nailing the shit out of their film. Look:
What has one worked on? One worked on much and told nothing to no one, until now. I have a sleeping puppy but often the sleeping puppy is a devil in disguise and he seamlessly transforms the flat into a right old piss and shit safari. A rare moment of calm is the time to update the weblog, so here it is, the first of an update-a-thon.
Months ago, near the start of the 2011, I shacked up with the dark and murky Outfit in the darker and murkier Hot Club de Paris praccy room and recorded some of the songs they'd penned-off since the demise of Indica Ritual. Shuffled and sorted mainly from Lodge residents, the new band was open, delicate and moody - a total departure (i felt) from the taut-as-fuck-everything-on-at-once approach of Indica.
We recorded 5 songs and whilst only three of the songs got a public airing on their totally decent website, I hope that somewhere down the line ears will hear the rest of what we did and like it.
My favourite song from the session is without a doubt Mirror Park. Describing it is to do it a complete disservice (because it's difficult not to use the words 'jazz' and 'chill' with a hyphon between them), so hopefully it'll end up somewhere sometime soon. Maybe they'll let me post it here.
Their first release was the blissy Two Islands on Hari'sDouble Denim label. It's a belter of a song that suits the more hi-fi production approach the band have employed since our lo-fi, sit on the floor session. It's also illustrative of Andy's recent shift towards more emotive and personal lyric writing. Suits his massive brain well. I do hope however, that the pop-shine of Two Islands doesn't mark an abandonment of lo-fi production and that other records might contain the scratch and murk that suits them so well. All in all, recording Outfit was one of the funniest and rewarding sessions I've worked on and I hope all this good press snowballs into a lengthy career for 5 inventive and truly talented bros.
Up next: recording with Vasco da Gamma, new Hot Club de Paris studio, Bad Meds, In the Room Print Co, the great Lost Art re-brand and a recording session with this man:
There were times that I never thought I'd finish Dave Mackey and Marc Baines' boards and then there were times once I had that I thought the world would never get round to getting them made and shipped. SHIT! It happened. I'm rife with excitement that these should be coming in this week.
Joan of Arc tour is imminent and I've made this up for the Liverpool show. I'm thinking about a limited riso-run featuring all of the dates on the tour, rather than a screen print because it is June. June is now and June is also when the tour is. How did that happen? Still, I'm psyched like a kid with a bike, but in a man with his mates kind of way.
Work. Print and graphics got my time painted into a corner so no rock music of late. I will be looking forward to the UK Joan of Arc tour, though, especially since I was lucky enough to watch the at the Grackle in Austin playing Owls songs. Psyched to see that every day for a week in June. Looking forward to getting back upon the Hot Club horse.
Lost Art went mail order and so you can buy the stuff we printed and some of the stuff I designed over the internet. Internet orders recieve a free tote bag featuring a sticker design I did for the shop around 100 moons ago.
Blueprint should be sending these to print in the near future. Mackey got twinned with Mark Baines for number 1 of their Hype Man Bro Model. An ode to the industrial Victorian might of Liverpool and Sheffield:
Would your fantasy gig be supporting Queen at Wenbley Stadium to an audience of dogs?
Mine would. Details of the fantasy line up show to come soon.
I chucked my ears at the new Joan of Arc record which the Burg bird was kind enough to sling my way. It's great. I played some of it to Broomo. He said "Wow, it's like loads of little Lego men building a house."
Here's a little snippet of a series of adverts I've been doing for Mogwai's next studio record. I've always loved looking at the front of Mogwai records, so to do something that doesn't interupt the flow too much has been a rewardathon. Doing some big 'ol 60x40's for the streets of London and the Glasgow. I've not been to Glasgow for ages. A wrong I should right. The title of this abum is a great title for an album.
I love that there is a film coming out about those big hulkin' linotype machines, but I wish the trailer sneaky peeked the results that sprung from such dinosaurs. For those who like a little drama in their type:
