i guess to detail what’s going on with us, we have a few projects that are finished or being finished. nothing’s really a secret, but we don’t really work publicly with it either way so it might come off that way accidentally sometimes. so this is to course correct.
last year, around november or so, we started working on a “mixtape” while sam was on tour as ricky eat acid. he started sketching out songs for it - both fully arranged ones for the band, and also more electronic or acoustic, experimental-leaning sketches that aimed to become more structured and “pop” with time & work. the goal of the mixtape was to write and record without any boundaries, the way we used to when we made ‘waste yrself’ ‘dc snuff film’ & ‘my own hell’. basically, pre-label, when we could write anything we wanted, sample anything we wanted, and release it any way (and any time) that we wanted. the label agreed, said we had their blessing to work this way, and off we went, sampling unclearable works for instrumentals, and trying to figure out how to write meaningful, personal songs that resonated with us the way things did when we were still 20, 21, messing around in basements, attics, and abandoned houses, trying to piece together what might be “pop music” to us.
the idea was to release the mixtape around the time it was done, just a free download online, no fanfare thing, a “thank you for sticking with us” type deal, and also, if things worked out, we could do so with a new band name, finally. we still don’t know what name that will be, and anything we post here - no matter the name it’s under - can be considered a ‘teen suicide’ song, still, in theory, in application, in whatever.
so! the mixtape is done, it was finished a couple months ago, and it’s being mastered. the label (run for cover) really likes it, and thus we’re now waiting a few months so we can release it in the beginning of next year, and have a physical release (vinyl, cd, i think) in addition to a (still free) digital download. that will be neat. it’s our best project, without a doubt, and i can’t wait for you to hear it.
besides the mixtape, we have a studio album that’s been in progress since mid-2015, that sean & sam are working on together, with help from different musicians & friends, but no “band” or anything. it’s a true, weird, studio-rat album, long, spaced out songs mixed with shorter, poppier bits. it’s kind of our take on a yo la tengo record, that feeling of wide open spaces & long, endless fields, forests, and tundra, all surrounding an unending highway. i don’t know when it will be done, but we recently finished two songs from it, at long last, and hope to release them as some kind of single just so they don’t languish forever until we get the whole project done.
in the background of both records(and tapes) sam’s been recording a solo album that’ll still be under the same name (whatever name it is), of songs that work best just one instrument + vocals - so guitar & vocals, piano & vocals, etc. stuff like “no the moon”, “afterlife dating” “swallow” “big mistake” etc to reference some old tracks that were done the same way. this will be a free release as well, sometime in the future, though again, we have no clue what name it’ll be under.
besides that, we’ve been writing a lot of songs together as a band again - sean, nick, and sam - and hope to get them recorded sometime in the fall/winter and be able to release them some sort of mini-album, or something. they’re full band tracks that don’t fit any of the other projects, and it’s something that’s more conceptual right now (some songs exist, but nothing’s recorded & it really depends on time & schedules & luck) but if it works out, it’ll be at worst a nice way to blow off steam, and at best, a step forward for us, as we’ve never really worked that way before & the few practices we’ve had to hone in on that project have really shone a ton of promise, to us.
so that’s sort of an update. we don’t update much, and we’re dumb, stupid band, but this is what’s going on and we’re very excited about it. please don’t tell our label about this blog or we’ll be in trouble
