A Return to Blogging

The last 12 months have seen quite a few changes in the way in which I communicate and action the visibility and style of communication for my various projects*. I’m speaking primarily of my online projects. When I reflect on that realisation it seems to me that more and more of what we do is digital in both creation and consumption. Feels perhaps like we’re getting ever closer to the non tangible world of dreams but in our waking lives. I like it. And there are countless folks developing tech to make the transition seamless. WordPress are one of them. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years and you reside outside this so called western world, then you’ll realise its becoming more and more difficult to separate the two. Visibility and commerce. Our kids want ‘likes’ and they’ll all soon discover that likes can be bought.** A few of them will go on to discover that the only reason likes, hits, hearts and up-votes were ever invented was a means to a commercial end. Baby chino anyone? Having tried to keep clear of business related matters on my personal blog with good reason, there is a justifiable segue from the former regarding syndication and subsequent proliferation to a hopefully less than dull piece of modern prose that is not a cynical rant. Hang in there.

I started blogging because it felt like a natural growth and transition from diary writing which I’ve done and continued to do to even post Back Page, since I was at least 14 or maybe younger. I started a novel when I was 16 which I tore up and threw away. Probably a good thing. I talked about clouds in the first paragraph… What’s most precious about this memory was that it was typed on an old suitcase typewriter my mother gave me on B4 sized paper my father gave me. The machine was later sold at one of her infamous garage sales. I now call them diaries and they are mainly arguments in a higher voice of reason. Dissatisfaction I find is a wonderful motivator and once I took control of my disdain I was able to channel it into action in my early twenties. Music, art, business and children (in no particular order). I’m now 35 and I’m from a generation that may have been the last to have first typed on a typewriter. That is fucking cool. Of course being a designer and having a passion for the retartedly cliché, I have a couple of old typewriters around so my kids do at least know what these wonderful machines are. I also have a feeling that machines like this will make a comeback. Cassettes too. I digress…

The first round of blogging coincided with big changes in my online world and a bunch of new web sites going up.*** WordPress played a very big hand. Work and business (which funds everything I do), music (which more or less keeps me sane), and the various grey areas between the two which I won’t go into now but include a band, a label and a recording studio all had a part to play. It was honest, gratifying and no one read any of it. I did however push my understanding of blogging and how to get a blog to trend which awakened the capitalist beast within. So how do you get it to work? Send me your email address so I can spam you about SEO. I’m kidding. Please don’t email me! Again, so how do you get it to work? Once I was able to answer that the algorithm quickly shifted as I realised you only get out what you put in and why put in for a blog that reviews the best 3 Korean films I saw this year or has an odd unfinished poem about a backside? The Believer will not publish me and I think I only have one follower on the blog. The obvious answer for me was to direct traffic to the source that will indeed reap the most financial reward. And that is what I have done for the last 2 years. I’ve done it for myself and I now do it for clients as well and I’m very good at it. Mind you the adage still applies. You Only Get Out What You Put In. YOGOWYPI. Sounds Aboriginal. Might put it on a t-shirt.

As soon as every post and every link is only about one thing, the motivation behind the work changes entirely. There are even systems designed to automate the process. At a price of course. Wading this murk for 12 months before I even realised it was murk was very interesting. I’m shrewd enough and I know how to delegate but I’m also a fierce creator so it wasn’t long before I picked up the old A4 Windsor & Newtown visual diaries and started writing with a Bic again. There is a certain freedom that I realised was missing from the blogging only after I returned to the A4 + Bic format. I unconsciously censor my online work while no such boundary exists in my diaries. These books, no one has ever read and probably won’t until after I’m dead. There are about 3000 pages in total with at least a couple of hundred words on each. I recently split them into topics and categories based on my current projects which suits me very well. It feels like less is being written and I walk around with six diaries under my arm but I like the new format. The tone and motivation is the same.

And so here I was again. Written diaries in one hand and useless online material served up for one purpose only on the other. The things is, there’s some pretty good stuff in some of these diaries. Some might even be worth sharing. I hit a wall and realised the intent behind the action was no longer pure but it would take me another year to come to the conclusion that I had to either stop or balance it out in some other booze fueled way. Balance is a tricky word and it has many connotations but its real and we feel it in every facet of our lives. The balance I was trying to strike was a commercial one with some very creative implications. Or was it a creative one with commercial loss and gain at stake? I couldn’t tell anymore and if you bullshit yourself for long enough you do actually start to believe it. We have safeguards but I’ll leave that controversy for another time. I’m healthy now and have been for ages.

So anyway, I’m blogging again and the simple answer lies in a revelation regarding what I have in the past called the complete artwork. I know a few people that are completely convinced that anyone who’s made it has lied, cheated and possibly fucked their way to the top. Funny but maybe the truth really does get you further.

*If you really want to know they are If You Build It, Monday Records (and her bands), Happy Music Festival, Enmore Audio , helping Tammy Moir with her site and then of course the Happy Blog.

**If you didn’t know this don’t worry. But let the lesson be not to get too caught up in how many likes or followers any one has.

***See point *

Movement

My blog has a PR 1 and an Alexa of around 8 million. That means that not much is happening here. Actually my last blog was quite a few months ago. There has been some recent movement however on a number of fronts and I feel like talking about things again. Its not about picture and it’s not about facts. This is the public extension of my diary and helps motivate my online activities. Until later.

Moving On (for now)

Folks there is only so much blogging a boy can do. Until further notice my efforts will be directed towards my other blogging endeavors. In no particular order:

Happy

Enmore Audio

Circle

Monday Records

and of course DPM

Mobile Post

I’ve just installed WordPress on my iPhone and this is my first mobile post. I’m sitting on my bed while Leaf reads an old sesame street book. This is probably going to happen more often but there some immediate limitations. Still, it’s worthwhile having the facility to mobile blog. Until next time.

Blog Gods hate Old News

During 2010 I posted almost 200 articles between my several blog sites.* All relevant and all very important.** This established a solid foundation for the year to come and a standard worth aiming for and even improving on. Surely if you sit down and write for four or five hours once a week, you get better? Do bloggers get writers block? Sure they do, but that’s not my problem this morning. Sadly, projects that require far more of my immediate and undivided attention on a very focused level have taken over where the blog god in me left off at the end of last year. Also, my blogging stats are down. In turn, the site stats are down because who wants old news right?A meandering article about what I did today was never what The Backpage was going to be about so an aimless discipline of writing is not the solution. What is folks? Well, I need to finish the album I’m working on and I need a holiday. refreshed and renewed and I’m going to try to remember what it was that I loved most about The Backpage and humbly return to a my weekly vigil of letters and numbers. Ah yes, and a new blog design up and running smoothly would be nice.

*At last count there were five key blog sites between work and the back page. At any given time I could easily split one into two or spawn a whole new idea.

**Well… kind of important.

New Blog Design

Working on a new design for my blog so please don’t be upset by strange and random changes, links and pictures over the coming days and possibly weeks. It will settle in to a new rhythm soon enough. This is probably version four or maybe five of my blog and while I think I’m pretty close* until I actually have a readership, I won’t care too much about starting the look and feel of it over again every few months.

*note that each new blog design means I lose a whole heap of settings directly related to images and how they appear…

Smells Orangy

Yesterday I tweeted (or maybe it was fuck book) that I could smell rotting oranges despite the fact there weren’t any rotting orange for miles.* In addition to this I noticed that the cotton sack which I carry along my daily dilly dallying smells like money. Funny because I haven’t had any money in it for months (actually I haven’t had any money anywhere for months and am half expecting men to come knocking any-moment-now). This got me thinking about the money smell and how money doesn’t actually have a smell at all. What you’re smelling is use. Filthy, stinky hands (and feet maybe I don’t know) rubbing, sweating, sniffing and oozing.Actually that’s as far as I got. Some highlights this week are that DPM have secured the Pearsons Florist account. Yay. Yes we are cool and we deserve it. I’m launching Tammy’s foray into the blogosphere via http://tammymoir.com and I need $15,000 for Stav’s Drum Sheet. Sadly the latter is not going to happen any time soon but there will be some drums recorded and it will happen here in the building. I’m listening to Beirut and really digging it. I’m also talking to a lot of folk from the UK who seem to really dig GITNB. Man I really need a bigger database.

*I can’t smell then anymore so pretty happy about that. Also, I’ve always preferred miles as a work to ki-lo-met-ters. Especially as a musician. I mean just try fit that into a song. I would would 500 ki-lo-me-ters… It’s just long. I heard that’s the main reason the US won’t go metric.

Reading Less

I’m reading less and this seems to have had a direct correlation with how much I feel like writing. The Saturday paper has become a joke and Leaf has discovered Shrek which means that even in my most intimate moments I either have Smash Mouth flying around in my head or a big green ogre face (I had to Google how to spell ogre). My believer subscription ran out about three months ago and I’m not inclined to renew until finances are handsome pants again. This may (or may not) take some time. The upside of lower finances is finding ways to feel better about yourself without spending. We have lots and lots of pictures that aren’t up on walls so I’ve been a lot of that. I have a drill, those little green studs and screws. The rest is easy. Tam’s ab out finished a bunch of painting she started around this time last year and it would be nice to see a couple of those up on the walls. Life is a little noisier than what I’m used to. I’m working on the album every day and I can’t seem to stop my iPhone from notifying me on Facebook updates. Yes inane. So the volume is off which means I miss messages and calls which isn’t so bad considering I’m meant to be working on my album. It still vibrates though and freaks me out every time. Sigh.

Impossible Ali Mobile

A Short Story
(names have been changed to protect the guilty).

Maybe what I know is kind of interesting you know? Fuck. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that some cunt would read and go fuck yeah that’s alright man. Like there’s something in it. Not like a bible or nothing but something in it. Fuck man I don’t know. I don’t wanna help cunts or nothing not that this shit is gonna help any cunt but I gotta write this man cause I can’t stop thinking about it and cause I’m feelin hectic heaps lately like when Jimmy’s brother took that trip and was hectic for fuckin weeks. What was his name? Anyway, Jimmy’s brother was at this bitch’s party last year he looked just like Jimmy but older and he took this pill and he was already on the piss and he fucked this chick and he pissed in a. Fuhahauck! What a clown but he was hectic for weeks after that. Not cause he pissed in a but there was rubbish in that pill like junk or something and he was just hectic for ages. I hate pills man. They’ve all got ajax in em. I fucked this lowie once and I was pissed and I tried to piss in a but I can’t piss with a hard on. I reckon you just aren’t supposed to anyway. What a goose. Those Fairfield clowns were always doing stupid shit you know. They had a sister but she wasn’t hot or nothing but she was nice enough. Older chicks used to like Jimmy for some reason but he was a dumb cunt. Fuckin loved him of course.

New Circle Album Begun

The last time I sat down to write an album was in 2007 when I began Just Keep Swimming. That record got us signed to Creative Vibes but that’s another story. It was released in 2008 and I distinctly remember the energy that went into it. It was believe it or not a response to environmental calamities. I thought New Holidays was going to blow up. But it didn’t. The next two releases weren’t really albums. Molasses Sandwiches which hasn’t actually been released yet was part of a our song a week project in 2009 and Xmas Omas was recorded after that as a Christmas EP. So thinking about all that has really excited me about the prospect of a real record. The band is solid and things feel good. The songs are there, somewhere just waiting to be plucked from the ether. Production will as always play an important part but the intent and ideas behind the record are what count most. This is the energy that people will respond to. I’ve had a crazy couple of years and if I survive them I will be stronger than ever before. If I don’t I would have gone down fighting. I remember putting the Monday Records address on the Just Keep Swimming CD even before the settlement went through and what a head fuck that whole drama was. It isn’t over either. So this record is going to be darker than what you’re used to. John Shand reviewed the last effort and said I must have been a sunflower in my last life. I’m writing this as I FTP the masters to AOK’s EP. I did that over the weekend. Next I’ll start up where I left off with a song I’m working on. It includes the lines: there’s talk of bigger pictures and saying no to burqas but all the enmore girls look lovely today.

Big Synths

In 2007 I bought a Hartmann Neuron. I don’t know why I did but I remember the day clearly. I was hung over and Tam was out and about with the boy*. New music was on my mind. I like the kind of hangover that doesn’t involve pain but merely a certain disassociation with hard core reality. I make fun decisions during such times. And other times I start fights with people. This beast was a whopping $8000 and weighed a tonne. I was looking for sounds back then. Sounds that would differentiate what I was doing from everyone else and also create a sound for an album I had in mind. This I believe I achieved with EGBDF. A couple of years after the Neuron I heard that Jason Lytle buys up a whole heap of gear, old and new (mainly old I figure) for each new recording project; he learns the gear, starts pulling sounds and the magic begins. It’s a great way to approach any project as a producer. You’ll always the tricks that you pull but why not draw from a whole new palette of sounds? Isn’t that why we visit different studios? So while I was designing half a dozen business cards every day I was learning my new synth. It was a masterpiece in disguise of a piece of futuristic insanity in disguise of a pretty fat synth. The track Astro Boy in particular benefited from the experiments and mistakes that came out of that box. I didn’t use it on Just Keep Swimming but when time came for Xmas Omas I got into the mood again. We dragged it up the stairs into level 7 and somewhere between my car and studio floor, it died. I mean it fucking died. It’s hard drive based and essentially had a crash. It now sits in its custom case in a paid storage facility in Marrickville. No idea what it’s worth in the state that it’s in but sometimes, on a cool Autumn morning, I remember the day I decided I had to buy it. I wish I’d found Dan McPharlin’s paper synths first. I’d still have one here in front of me and it would still be working.

* There are two boys now

Micro Review 2

While I’m always on the lookout for the next great film and at the same time not too effected anymore by hype* (was easily able to go and see Avatar in 3D without feeling sick like some folks I know), I’m more precious when it comes to DVD’s. You know how that overnight sticker shimmers with so much hope and possibility? Yeah well there’s a good chance you’re going to be made a fool of. I’m even more cynical about older films because I don’t know if anyone has noticed but DVD’s don’t always work. I mean they literally don’t always work. Maybe it’s my DVD player but no, I don’t think so… No one seems to care. They scratch and skip over damaged areas. At least with VHS you got to see the whole film. Sure it was through a haze of noise and crackle and I loved it how sex scene on VHS movies were always WAY grainier because they’d been watched a 1000 times over. But you saw the whole film. Remember BE KIND REWIND? Anyway, I am pleased to say that four of the five last films I saw did not skip and blew my mind. I’m saving one for the next review but here are the three:

AGORA: Rachel Weisz is slowly becoming one of my favorite actors and this masterpiece cements this even further. She has never disappointed but somehow went unnoticed for me for some time. Maybe it was her role in the Mummy (which honestly I love those films), but she’s subtle and brilliant which sometimes equals a slow burn for my simple mind. I’m catching up. Agora is directed by Alejandro Amenábar who I didn’t realise I already knew. He gave me one of the most hair raising cinematic experiences of my life. Through sheer coincidence I caught The Others a few weeks after reading Henry James’ the Turn of the Screw. The effect was such that it felt like I was experiencing something from another lifetime. Suffice to say The Others was his abstract interpretation of the novel. It’s a cracker and so is the book. Agora itself is beautiful in so many ways. The cinematography in Agora is a good enough reason to watch it. But it’s also very well written, well performed and heart breaking all at the same time. No point giving anything away. Watch it.

THE GHOST WRITER: Roman Polaski has not lost his touch and continues to mesmerize me with every frame. The plot centers around a nameless ghost-writer (Ewan McGregor who I am convinced was asked to speak like Michael Caine in this), who is hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister. He uncovers a heap of secrets that put his own life in jeopardy. The casting is brilliant and the locations are to die for. Listen closely to everyone’s voicing and watch the walls because they’re literally covered in million dollar paintings. Also please explore his back catalog. Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby is a must for all which is a great little segue into:

CHILD’S PLAY: I’m a big fan of 80’s horror. B grade, C grade bring it on. Holland’s film is late 80’s but scrapes in. I guess my childhood was pretty stable so I wasn’t all that freaked out. Also, I wasn’t really allowed to watch any of it so had to catch it when I could at cousin’s houses. What I’ve found is that at the core of many horror films are basic family values. Understanding this and watching many of these films with that in mind changes the experience. I’ve only seen this once before and what surprised was how seriously well shot it is. I remember it being about a freaky little killer doll but it’s nothing like that at all. It became and stayed famous for all the wrong reasons. I love it and think it’s worth checking out… again.

*I mention this because I was the opposite. Anything remotely attached to hype would not get my pennies. Period.

Chicken or Egg

There are many words that we can use to describe our selves and the things that motivate our actions. From another persons perspective these can sometimes be seen as qualities or flaws. In a more humanitarian and compassionate approach to the human condition I stumbled across describing us as unique eccentricities. I like that. Eccentric no longer means that-old-cat-woman. It’s all of us honing in oh-so-carefully on our own developing world view. Of course the truth is that some of these qualities are self defeating and not exactly ideal. That’s not to say that they don’t serve a purpose for a time, but with some examination, we could probably do better. On a creative front my trust issues have rarely revealed their effects directly*. Okay so these aren’t major, toe curling, fetal position trust issues, but enough to have been self examined and worth adjusting.

The dusting of the proverbial cobwebs initiated two major events which in turn led to the start of a new musical project. They may not be entirely major in everyone’s eyes, but enough to elicit a creative response none the less. Chicken or Egg is an idea that’s been floating around my brain for a couple of years. Why I couldn’t start it was because there were certain areas left unexamined but now, it feels okay and even great to cover some favorite tracks.

Enmore Audio was the second event which has been in the works as a private / commercial recording studio for almost three years. The first stage is complete and I’m faced with the possibility of working with new talent on  fairly regular basis. Amazing. The studio means that Circle can comfortably and in a timely fashion, take on new projects and make new music; the covers being the first off the rank.

So really just a diary update on things and how I’m feeling. Not as cynical as you may enjoy but hey, this is for me after all.

*Though I’m sure they do. Fuck, it’s probably the reason I can’t write a hit song. Either that or I’m just not a hit song kind of guy.

Note to Self

The process of a new record is an incredible one. You have many moments of intense choice making opportunities. Am I going to push this baby as far as it can go? Do I care enough to ensure that every note, every syllable, every utterance from each and every machine old and new alike will not only be to my satisfaction but will be ‘new’?* Then come full circle on that Brian Wilson moment and ask does it matter man, this is just me, my expression, my art?** Of course it matters you silly cunt you reply. What’s the point of any creative endeavor if it doesn’t push, cross, crush and smash along the way? There is an unfathomable amount of mediocrity and if all you did was push the dial to 10.3 then you may as well have stayed at a safe 5. Obviously this is more of a personal diary entry than a blog entry but for anyone who’s reading this and who’s read some recent blogging of mine may know I am between desks and as such bits and pieces are missing. Pens, books, diaries and so on. I also can’t find my custom made pencil case. It’s yellow, streamlined and refashioned from those vintage $2 pencil cases that have 10 or so little plastic sleeves for you to cut out letters and badge as your own. I’ve been cutting these in half and then sewing them together since I was about 11. I’m sure it will show up.

There are way too many opinions and pieces of paper and flashing LED’s about stand out records of our age, art and so forth. I mentioned Brian Wilson and he’s by no means a favorite (okay maybe top 15), but I mention him because between Pet Sounds and Smile you get a sense of the intense and profound intent he injected into those creative moments. No small task but at the same time, so very simply put, how could you do it any other way? Sadly, I know how. Most of us are lazy. So lazy in fact that we find ways (some of them ironically are really hard ways), to avoid that moment where you need to decide whether or not we’re going to bust up the sidewalk. Am I taking some incredible stab at my fellow man? No way! I’m documenting some discoveries as I enter a new phase in order to ensure I know what I’m getting myself into and I’ve been honest about what I want to achieve with it. That’s why children are so perfect and why we’ve all heard it around the traps somewhere that true genius is a return to childhood. We’ll see.

I’ve given myself three months to write the best album I possibly can. The mix, the production, the mastering, these all exist in the present and to pretend otherwise is absurd. The studio, along with all the zeros and ones and hammer and strings are my instruments of choice. Again, all simple but important notes to self.

 

*If you don’t believe in time and most days I don’t, then there’s no such thing as old and new just the ever present present…

**If you read that last line in a cliche stoner / surfer voice it makes more sense. Avoid that Woody Harrelson film where he’s both. Fuck that was bad.

Newness vs. Oldness

Once upon a time this space was the cog, the central beam, the load bearing wall,  for creative endeavor and prolific output. Once a degree of mastery had been achieved I then set my sights on fattening up my proverbial goose and since that time my focus has been the commercial projects of my life. 12 months on from my first blog… Very fucking sad indeed. Such are my capitalistic ways. But enough about me, let’s talk about my autobot friend.* When we moved to Enmore in 2007 the backyard had been ‘done-up’ by the previous owners. No doubt an attempt to up-da-value of-da-place… Since then we’ve been slowly but surely shredding away all the upping they did. Not to say that this has had any significant effect on home or land value as new council rates proved recently. But if one were to try and sell this place, you’d need a pretty unique buyer. Enough said. Landscaping was one such project undertaken by the previous owners and a part of this fancy outdoor architecture was an irrigation system, timer, urn fountain system and outdoor lighting system. Hardly a permaculturalists dream. Sadly the lights they chose were of the biodegradable kind not the new and improved LED system like the one we installed in Enmore Audio** but a 12V system none the less. Two transformers managed these 12,11,10,9 or so incandescent fittings and another two for the magic bubbling urns. The urns were refashioned very early on. Chlorine was eliminated completely, rocks, leaves and debris were allowed full reign and two dozen carp of the golden variety were introduced. I have only lost three, the rest are strong, healthy and growing! Algae and other water like plants thrive and we have a resident frog.

The lights had to go. Well, they were taking care of themselves at a rate of two every three months but a permanent solution had to be found. The transformers however may find themselves of some use to me. At about $150 a pop, we needed two to run the lights here in EA. It’s probably worth mentioning that I’m writing this in the very heart of Enmore Audio Control Room (or The Kitchen as we like to call it around here). Sadly these AC transformers were not the right kind for my DC 12V needs. So, they now reside as massive paperweights in the shed.

Now whether or not you prefer old things over new, there’s no denying that old school worn out charm. Everything needs to be broken in and conveyor belt newness just isn’t real. There’s also no denying that some things age better than others and often a false economy is justified when considering a $200 boxed storage unit over a $2000 timber one. Such are the times we find ourselves in. One day I’d like to think that excellence and quality are the only motivating factor behind any project. In this world that’s a very expensive way to live. It also explains the state of my credit cards.

*Who is neither an autobot nor my friend. Actually there are two of them so its friends.

**Worth mentioning that someone called to book the space yesterday. Had a freak out and didn’t call them back.

More Clicks – Less Sound

A story about Radi that goes back about two years. Worth mentioning now for various reasons.

Seems to me that everything is about clicks lately and you are most definitely speaking to the converted.  I admit to being hyperactive compared to most people at the slowest of times but in some areas I seem to display a sloth like aptitude. Not sure why. Fear? Doubt? Uncertainty? All leading to an egotistical denial that sliced bread even exists. Despite not being sure what to call my source of living for many years, if I look closely, it is of course graphic design. Our industry is a funny one. Not ha ha funny. There aren’t any set standards, rules or regulatory bodies; only hundreds and hundreds of kids with $25K degrees and a bunch a studios that try to employ them. Graphic design is very closely linked to web design and web design is even more closely linked to folk that are somewhat IT savvy. I was never a web designer and I was never IT savvy. Just a passionate artist who wanted to make a living designing business cards. So while I was toiling away on my 48th business card for the week, other agencies of a similar age were cottoning on to the click click click factor. And fuck me dead is it an important factor. I started shopping online years ago but never once thought about people who might be looking for us online. Why?* No matter. The penny, which was now at a horizons distance sped forward like speed racer** and dropped right in front of my face. not only did I have years of catching up to do, but month’s worth of training and research as I uncovered the mystical secrets and powers of SEO. Of course being the hyperactive so and so that I am, I immediately launched a company that would allow an outlet for these new found skills. This is a personal side project which will only be available to a limited number of clients a year and while Google themselves say do not trust an SEO who guarantees results, I have most certainly proven to myself that I can get results. But it is early days and for that very reason this blog entry is in my personal site as opposed to the company site.

Leonard Woolf*** once wrote of the sad decline of clicks and clops of horses hooves on the London cobble stone roads as more and more motorcars were introduced. The same can be said of the click clack of the analog typewriter. We have one in our office. Not quite as cool is this Hammond but the nostalgic and meditative rhythms it produces are the same. The definition of clicks has changed completely**** and while the world is making a billion more clicks everyday there’s a romantic in me that would gladly change that for Morse code, ribbon and hoofs.

* Sloth like aptitude.

**You may like to sing the speed racer theme song here

***Yes, Virginia’s husband

****When I told my mechanic that my van was clicking he thought I meant it was accessing the internet without my permission.

Safi vs Shaw

I met Dan Shaw about 5 years ago after he responded to an ad I placed for new band members in Sydney’s Drum Media. He plays bass. For those of you who don’t know ‘the drum’ as it is affectionately known, it’s a free A3-ish sized newsprint street press weekly with a glossy cover. If you can be bothered reading it cover to cover you should pretty much walk away knowing everything that’s (commercially) happening musically in Sydney that week. It comes out on a Tuesday. I’m writing this on a Monday afternoon. Back to Dan. He was the only bass player that rang me after I posted the ad. He’s now one of my closest friends, my only worthy drinking buddy after Heinz moved to Thailand and still plays bass in our band. When I thought about doing some fun and possibly stupid two way interviews I was initially thinking of the movie I’m hoping to make during the recording and production of our next album. That still might happen. I wanted it to be fun but also provocative; I wanted us to momentarily slip into both the ultimate cliché of journalist and the oft interviewed musician if that’s at all possible. There’s no reason other than I think it’ll make good watching / reading. I thought of Dan because someone should record our conversations sometimes, he rarely says no and is rather well read.

Radi

You lent me Arcade Fire’s new album a few weeks ago. I loved it enough to buy it but haven’t bought it yet. Soon. While there was nothing wholly original on the album (sorry AF), what do you think makes it so special? There’s a leading question here which you may pick up on. Feel free to answer that too.

Dan

Nothing wholly original? How interesting. It isn’t even that I refute that, it’s just that I don’t even consider it when I listen, or appreciate, anything that I love. Unoriginality, when completely apparent, is sickening, but re-inventing the wheel isn’t a prerequisite for me loving an album. First question, and I’m already digressing wildly.

What makes it special? Many things I suppose, but at its core is an unmistakable concept. They’ve done a film clip for the title track “The Suburbs”, and the concept is further reinforced by it.

How do you imagine the concept for Circle’s next body of work (if there is one)?

Radi

I love that film clip! Truly igneous stuff at work there. You seem a rather thoughtful fellow so as a musician I would have taken you to go a little deeper into the inner workings of an album or song. To say that you don’t even consider it surprises me. But then again you are also a romantic so taking things as they come… well, that’s a great thing too. I was however trying to suggest there is something deeper. You hinted at it with your remark regarding the concept. For the record when I say I’m hinting at something it by no means suggests that I actually know what I’m hinting at.

Intent however is a word we should be using more often as a band. The next Circle album is going to present many challenges to all of us. We’re in a new place mentally and musically and many factors may change how we tackle this in the coming months. We have spoken about a concept of sorts being that which is at arm’s length as opposed to that which is on the other side of the fence. More time is needed to solidify this and I’ve begun meditating again which I’m sure is going to help

Dan

I think I do consider originality, in a subconscious way perhaps. And some albums are more original than others – but that doesn’t necessarily mean I enjoy those experiences more. What I do enjoy in an album is a sense of continuity – not necessarily in the songwriting style, but theme wise. I think the production of an album has a huge part to play in achieving an effortlessly magical atmosphere. Technically speaking, the way an album “sounds” can manipulate the listener’s interpretation of it. It certainly does with me. It’s not an easy subject to expand upon, because I think a lot of the effect a great album has belongs the realm of psycho-acoustics. The emotional response I have to most albums is hugely to do with the sonic landscape. When I think about how bands like MGMT and how they use resonance, I just love it. I’m all about resonance these days.

Radi

We seem to be pretty good at throwing things each other’s way that stick. Be it musicians, albums, books, movies. Some people (including myself at times), are loath to share something they discovered as though there’s some kind of IP on the find. Have you ever felt this and why do you think it happens? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we were all sharing the good stuff? Maybe there is a level of IP in the discover?

Dan

Does IP mean intellectual property? If so, I’ve never really felt the urge to suppress any discoveries for that reason. I remember watching stupid movies with my brother as a kid, and it was as if the experience could only be legitimately fun if we were both laughing at the same jokes. Maybe I’m insecure and need approval for my taste so I’m eager to share. But not so much anymore. I like that quiz show “Letters and Numbers”, and I’m pretty sure nobody else does.

I ‘m not sure why it happens to you, but I think you should brag about your discoveries. If you have good taste.

Have any discoveries that you’re too embarrassed to share?

Radi

If I have good taste? That’s about as subjective as it gets Mr. Shaw. But you’re right, I should be talking more about all these discoveries. Maybe that’s what all this blogging is about. As far as embarrassing discoveries, no I don’t think so. Ass plugs are pretty good. Have you tried them?

Dan

Taste: truly subjective? There are entire schools of thought that may argue otherwise – a topic way too huge and complex to broach. Ass plugs? No, not yet. Maybe later in that “we have to spice up our sex life” part of the relationship.

I am intrigued as to the reason you may not want to share discoveries that you thought were significant. I’d love to hear what intellectual property means to you.

Radi

I’m not going to answer that completely today because it’s a very long one but let me just say that if you have no discoveries that aren’t worth protecting then I’m not really sure what life’s about.

We like a drink you and I. If you had more money do you think you’d drink more or just better booze? Rich folks quaff Grange. Can you see yourself pondering between a $200 and $400 bottle of red one day?

Dan

Yes.

Maybe not in days of yore, but I always go quality over quantity nowadays. That’s not to say I can’t enjoy a trashy booze-up. Does depend on the companion though – context is everything. I love reading the blurbs on fancy Scotch bottles. If I  could drink and write blurbs, well, a happy man I would be. Yeah. I wanna be that guy.

How about you? Got your eye on a dusty old bottle somewhere?

Radi: I want a cellar full of dusty old bottles! I can totally see you as that guy by the way. Keep the dream alive. I think we should drink more Scotch. Are we still on for NYE?

Dan

Yeah NYE is on, of course. Is it better to approach the bottle sober, or after about six beers like last time. I’m thinking a smorgasbord would be great. Just a few different flavors – wine, maybe some sort of stout beer, caipirinha.

Radi

I think a few beers first should do the trick. I’m also thinking cigars perhaps just because. I keep meaning to ask you what your three favorite non Wes Anderson films are. I also keep meaning to ask what you thought of the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Dan

Hmm. Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, and The Life Aquatic. Everything about these movies is a joy to me. They’re so fucking funny and they all have these heartbreak moments that really get me. You should to Rich about Wes Anderson too.

I haven’t seen The Fantastic Mr. Fox yet. It’s escaped me somehow, and you’ve reminded me. Must see it soon.

The Coen Bros. have just done a version of “True Grit”. What are your favorite of the Coen’s?

Radi

Ha! I asked what were your three favorite films that Wes did not direct… A Freudian slip no doubt. I’ve seen most their films (the Coen’s that is). Barton Fink is up there but I think Fargo is my favorite. It’s not so much that they aren’t getting better; these older films just ooze a certain quality, like Raising Arizona. I can’t quite place it. Something like Roman’s Rosemary’s Baby. He got better and better but it has a certain quality that only time can procure.

Dan

I don’t have a great memory for movies unfortunately. Milena and I have watched so many in our time together, it’s hard to remember which ones I loved the most. Have you seen/heard about Winter’s Bone? That’s one of my recent favorites.

As a teen, I could make lists of my favorite things, albums, movies, people. I’m just incapable of it nowadays. Is it because the adult mind expands to take in myriad other concerns?

Radi

Not sure. Maybe. I still remember all my favorites of everything. I wonder if people will enjoy reading this? Oh and congratulations on the new job! We should probably toast to that at some point.

Grit or What I Read in 2010

Grit or The Best Things I’ve Read in 2010.

You don’t need to have someone’s balls hanging out for your McSweeney-esk article to have grit. It doesn’t hurt that Richard Kern has boobies hanging out in everything that he produces but somehow he does it in such a way that you don’t notice the boobies.* Besides, he’s not a writer. Still, grit is the topic here and seeing as the chosen medium is the written word I can’t help but reflect on the best things I’ve read in 2010, most of which had no pictures at all**. Enough has been written about McCarthy so I won’t go there but I did finish the Border Trilogy early this year so that makes a noteworthy mention. Yes I say vamonos instead of yellah almost every second day and yes I am on my way to the nearest Hacienda. If you haven’t read McCarthy you should; if you saw the movie The Road before you read The Road forget it, you just fucked your own life up so hard that your warped perspective will never have a chance to resettle. Please stop reading my blog… Still here? Okay don’t worry; actually you’ll never know the difference. You could, if you dare, hazard a train spotting career for a number of years, doing ice, cocaine, heroin and other drugs, hustle for a period*** and then come back to reality in early 2020 and read The Road. Just a thought.

There was rarely an issue of Vice that didn’t have at least mind fuck of an article which I devoured and would suggest that either I have had some literary renaissance of sorts or they are writing much better articles lately. Whatever the case maybe, in 2010 I put away my horrible music mags and audio mags (this does not include TapeOp which is awesome music mag), and replace them with McSweeney’s short stories, Vice and The Believer. This probably took up more than half of my reading time.

The next noteworthy mention is 1001 Arabian Nights. I’ve the deckled edge re-issue of 1910 edition for about 5 years but only just decided to read it. Awesome! I’m a massive fan of Walt Disney’s Aladdin but the original tale is deeper, darker, grittier and way more sordid. Great stuff and thoroughly enjoyed comparing the two which is something I can honestly say I have never ever done. Probably because it was so different to the original.  Please go out and read it. If you can find a copy with the original Maxfield Parish illustrations then even better.

I didn’t read the paper in 2010. Not sure why. Maybe it was because it’s mainly crap but I am thinking about getting back into day trading so perhaps I may need to get back into this paper reading habit. I started to read Catch 22 but put it down. My copy of Catcher in the Rye is missing and I think I know who has it. Sadly I think that’s pretty much it but there’s quite a bit on the cards for 2011 so stay tuned.

*yeah right

**graphic novels are high on the list for 2011. Here’s hoping D.R. Shaw doesn’t have a snobbish approach to them.

***assuming you’re good looking enough

 

Collectors: Andy, artistic integrity, stuff that’s too cheap

To call collecting an art form is a bit of farce. You’ve got to look a little deeper down the murky worm hole. Choosing the object of your neurosis however is very much an art (if such a moment is given the clear headed opportunity to bloom)*. Peter Fay is a wonderful example and having had the opportunity to work with him on his Bloodlines exhibition was a great honour. He was of course collecting horse pictures at the time but he also shared with us a private collection he was putting together of people’s lost pet posters**. He took a very ethical approach and would never leave a street bare, ensuring there were multiple copies before nabbing one. If there was only one, he’s take a photo of it. Nice man. He also commented on the socioeconomic aspects of lost pet posters. The picture, picture quality, no picture (i.e. only text), reward or lack thereof, funny, sad, black and white, full colour, gloss, A5, A4 A3, protective plastic sleeve, tape, staples and so on. But not unlike our very own Andy Muirhead the object of our desire will more often than not choose us and we are left at its disposal. I always thought he had a very creepy smile and all along when he was saying tea-cups and tea-pots he was thinking little boys bums.

Artistic collectors (not to be confused with professional collectors), are my favorite kind. I mention this because I used to think I was an artistic collector. I’m not. I border between professional and neurotic and most recently discovered I collect pet hates and fucked up neurotic collectors are up there on my list***. I’m also an amateur art collector, keyboard collector, list collector, vintage audio gear collector and can’t leave Bunnings without buying a pot which makes me a pot collector. When I left home at 17 or thereabouts my first apartment had a pretty small balcony and it wasn’t until my fourth or maybe even fifth rental property that I had a backyard. I’ve always loved plants so becoming a potting master was an obvious move. What amazed me to this day is how cheap terracotta and oven glazed pots are. I mean these little fuckers weigh a ton. They look heaps cool and some are huge but you can get  a pot that will house your thyme bush well into its teens, give you all the thyme your heart could desire, and all you’ve parted with is $6.00. Man that’s good value.

* in which case it would no longer be a neurosis?

** I plan to steal this idea

*** But I like myself enough to get up every morning so go figure

Twelve months worth of…

I haven’t had much to say in my personal blog over the last few months. The occasional anecdote or whimsy but not much else. But with December and 2011 just around the corner and a whole heap of challenges about to present themselves, some reflection is in order. I attribute the ‘quite’ time mainly to the fact that things are in major flux. Like Superman after he’d been exposed to the bad ass kryptonite*. The dude just didn’t know where he was at and if I’m not mistaken the last thing he would have felt like doing is blogging**. Major staff changes at DPM, Circle gigging weekly (which finishes today BTW) and of course the recording studio. All in all it’s been an okay year I guess. It always comes down to what you make of the efforts you put in and so often people just leave it at that… Anyway…

I highly recommend the 2010 Art issue of The Believer which I recently devoured. There’s always an article or two which leaves me thinking it’s an elitist piece of shit but I love that feeling and it’s the rest of the stuff, which is genuinely wonderful journalism that I enjoy. If you can understand half the comics then hats off to you. It’s like that. The Waldemar Julsrud article is just fantastic. It left me feeling like journalism is the most incredibly self indulgent form of work in the world. But hey, that’s not really fair. Also for the first time in my Believer history I wanted more pictures.

One of the big ones this month will be the displacement of my personal working space and it’s relocation and reconfiguration. Head space is important. Well I’ve been told it is. I’ve never had any because I combine the needs of several endeavors all at once into the same four square meters. Let me explain: I have a table. It’s shitty but it’s big. I have a huge 27” iMac on it which runs my recording studio. On either side of that are my studio monitors. Over to the right is my 17” Sony Trinitron Monitor which runs my highly speced HP PC. MYOB can only run on a PC (or at least all our files from 1994 are PC files and switching over is boring and expensive), so it’s an accounting system. It also manages all the old DPM PC files from way back when as well as email tasks for work. Currently it runs wireless and is on  the 2^nd floor. We have three floors and wireless doesn’t work on the third floor.

Two systems, one table, about 178 tasks between them. When the studio opens I will be moving the audio and recording stuffs down into that room and Tam will be taking this room. What happens to DPM PC? WHAT?? I don’t have a desk space in the office and with good reason. No spot to sit and design blogs! I can’t be in there more than 3 seconds without being jumped with a million questions. Each new person has to be trained in the art of ‘just because I’m walking past, it doesn’t mean you can ask me a question…’ So I avoid that area if I can. I can’t combine systems and  I don’t want the billion dollar studio to become my office. So I have a dilemma. There’s no short answer but believe me when I say I’m used to this. I’ve been desk-less and office-less a dozen times during transitional phases and I don’t always get it right the first time.*** But I’m sure things will find a way.

It’s important that year’s end well and I’m going to make an effort to end this one well. A small holiday, a launch for the studio, some solid plans for 2011 and… a new work space.

* Can anyone remember what element Richard Pryor used to substitute the unknown element in the real Kryptonite?

** Drinking, smoking weed maybe and being an all round bad sure, but not blogging.

*** Some funny stories about fucking that up if you’re interested.