Memories, like the corners of my mind

I can’t remember this but it sounds pretty good. kitchens live in Baltimore

Comments

Thanks for your interesting comments on the last post. I’m wary of replying individually as I don’t want to end up like this bloke. But here are some answers:

The record should be out late summer, and will be released by 3 loop music:

http://www.3loopmusic.com/

Contact them if you want to know more about release schedules and formats, or if you are in the industry and want this and want that in ways that will only befuddle me. Go and find them on Facebook and ‘like’ their page to get regular updates, you modern people.

The artwork is already done, and currently with the layout person who is doing a lovely job – thanks for the offers but we’re sorted.

I’m now going to have a lie down and think about what happens next.

Mixed, shaken, and stirred

Spent the weekend with Julian going through the songs for a last time. And yesterday we finished. 10 songs recorded by us, mixed with Pascal Gabriel, and featuring a mix of sounds that should satisfy some of those Kitchens aficionados.

Jules thinks it sounds nothing like old Kitchens, but like a new version sucked through time and space. Dan said he thought it would fit neatly between Death of Cool and Cowboys. Me? Well it certainly sounds like nothing I’ve recorded these past stephenhero years, so I’m glad as I wanted a change. It’s definitely a hark back to the sonic noise of KOD, but the lyrics are wiser, and the songs less fraught. But don’t get me wrong, they are no less intense.

This is a thorough emotional rinsing lasting 42 of your earth minutes.

Next – mastering, artwork, formats. And yes, there will be 180g vinyl before you ask.

But NO live shows featuring all 3 of us. Do you hear? That’s a NO to those sitting in the back.

Wobbly world

So mix one is done. Thank you Pascal for your amazing energetic input. And now we spend days listening and listening. Julian calls to say are the vocals too loud? I call him to say are the guitars too quiet? (And already I hear the chorus of “turn up the guitars!”) He calls to say the drums are this, and I say that they are that. We both want to fiddle a bit more. Some tracks are done, clearly reached their potential. Others seem less defined.

It strikes me that how you listen to music determines what it is you want to hear. I can hear the lyrics just fine at tiny volumes, because I wrote them, and frankly I don’t want to hear my vocals loud. Pascal feels they should be up front and proud. My Bloody Valentine can have achingly loud guitars because that is their mission. Their focus on lyrics is not paramount. Morrissey can have his voice dripping his brand of injured bile loudly from the speakers as the band clatter away in the background. Compare the various ways REM mix the band vs the singer on Automatic for the People: Ignoreland vs Everybody Hurts.

And it leaves me none the wiser. Our songs with lots going on are symphonic in reach, but aren’t they just pop songs? Listen to Scott 4 and the orchestra are placed politely back. Compare this with the stroppy loudness of brass on Scott 2. And Scott didn’t have the wipeout of enormous delayed guitars to contend with. Compare the quiet voice on Strange Free World, with the louder dirtier one on Death of Cool. Emptier tracks would mix themselves, but we haven’t written any of those.
Roll on mix two, the Tweaks, and these little complexities sorting themselves out. (Mops brow and heads back into the furnace.)

Day 4

Lost in music. From Japan to Jupiter as I seem to be singing on loop. Guitars orbiting, delays spinning. Feeling a bit Cockette-ish. So here’s a photo of that crazed San Francisco troupe. Another inspiration.

Luisa Casati

We’re mixing the one about Luisa Casati. If you’re interested here’s a précis of her extraordinary looks and life: Luisa Casati

Coming into focus

Three tracks down. Shiny, huge. Delighting me. Thank you Pascal for doing this, and taking the sting out of mixing. We’re on course to having two more done by the end of today. Furious pace.

Everything louder than everything else

Just as well Julian came up. I forgot to put in the vital ingredient of stylophone/sitar that he had put together for one of the louder songs. All sonic space now occupied. All frequencies are go. Now all I have to do is make everything louder than everything else.

Went through 7 of the songs yesterday, all sounding done. 3 left for this morning. I’m already contemplating a new vocal for one of them, singing the song an octave lower. Last minute crucial tweaks.

Pre-mix

Friday, a good one. A good one to meet up with Julian after these past months and spend 24 hours on the songs. We’re getting them prepped for the arrival on Sunday of Captain Mix. Adding a bit of top, moving faders up and down, turning up the guitars, that kind of thing. Only problem I see is the one song with 52 tracks, of which 40 are guitars. Hmm, do we really need all of them? Oh yes, I hear Julian say.

To prepare mentally I’m playing Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie Prince Billy’s What the Brothers Sang. Very beautiful and beguiling record. The two tracks I play repeatedly are My Little Yellow Bird and Omaha. Extraordinary songs and fantastic production. A joy on this freezing cold sunny morning.

I’ll do updates as the week progresses.

The Waiting Room

Sat in a lot of these recently. Getting tense, trying to read. The last one was prior to an operation I had last week. Luckily theatre slots had changed so the wait this time was brief. A week later and I’m home and slowly mending. We took our first drive out today, and on the car stereo was the new music – where we’re up to so far. It sounded great as we drove through the misty hills of Derbyshire.

Mixing is now booked for April. Which means, bar any remixing, it’ll be done by my birthday. A fitting way to celebrate it.

We’ve also been talking to labels and found one who would like to put this out. More about that soon.

In the meantime come join me in the waiting room, and thanks for your patience.