VIRB

Today (October 1) was special: Radiohead finally announced the release of LP7, called 'In Rainbows'. Everyone is working themselves up into a lather about it, because they're offering it as a digital download for which it's up to the user what to pay (everyone is excited because they're "giving it for free" - the way I see it, they already know people are going to be downloading it and sharing it online anyway, so they're offering people a chance to pay them at least something, which I think many would). That's one option, the other is a full package of 2 CDs, booklet, box, vinyl records and what have you, which is coming in December (I preordered it, of course). It costs 40 GBP, but then again that's what Sigur Ros wanted me to pay for a special edition of Hlemmur with some drawings. But I will buy the Heima/Hvarf/Heim set that's coming up in November; apparently it's gorgeous (and then there are those covers as well).

Also, I recorded a new song, called 'Dust Afternoon', this morning and afternoon before going to work. Then came back and recorded the vocals and some more guitar and did some more mixing. It still doesn't sound exactly right, and it crackles and pops, but my chances of winning a Grammy were rather slim anyway. It was written in 2005, back at our old place on the 6th floor. That was when I recorded the "ding ding ding" guitar sound which you can hear at the beginning and almost throughout the whole song. It's interesting how some songs come back - at the time I didn't have enough patience to see it through (well, most songs I recorded in the past 4 years are unfinished). A couple of days ago I was going through some of the older recordings and this immediately stood out. Then again, it might not be that good and I might take it off virb tomorrow. I usually spend weeks tweaking, adding a touch here and there, but what the hell. I'm just glad I was able to do it in just one day - it's been really long since I spent hours recording ("west" was recorded bit by bit, during about a week or so, not in one long stretch) and it is good to get into the rhythm again. The funny thing is that I should be concentrating on re-mixing the old Car Alarms, and all of a sudden there are about 7 new songs that await recording. To wit: "Tuesday Night in Every Town" (which exists only on paper and in my head), "Blood Blood Blood" (a radical reworking of an idea from 2004), finishing "Islands" (formerly "This Song"), "Rock in My Shoe", "Krow Blues" (to record it again, faster), "Champagne Kills", and "My Elevator Solution". then there are embryos like "Colour of the Southern Seas" and "Wings of Evil". Sometimes I think that I'm repeating myself, or going backwards. There is definitely a pattern, starting even with Car Alarms, where a song starts out normally, and then builds a long instrumental/improvised tail ("Coffee/Brown"). But I've written about this before. Speaking of repeating myself... Also, I seem to have weirdly adopted some sort of purism: instruments left as recorded, no reverb, no doubletracking of vocals, cracks and pops left in. Hmmm. Also also, I seem to be losing my mixing skills - "Foghorn 2" still sounds murky.